74 Days to B1G Basketball: Northwestern Finishes Spain Trip With a Win, Michigan State Falls to Georgia By 1

Wrapping up both of their exhibition trips, Northwestern and Michigan State were both in action yesterday. Once again Northwestern demolished another team in Spain while Michigan State fell to a much more challenging national team.

Northwestern Rolls to Easy Win in Last Exhibition Game

The Wildcats concluded their Spanish exhibition trip yesterday, facing off against USA Toulouges. Northwestern rolled on their way to a decisive 70-44 victory to finish their Spain trip with a 4-1 record. Once again senior Tre Demps paved the way for the Wildcats, leading the team with 23 points. Also contributing on offense were Aaron Falzon and Scottie Lindsey, who added 16 and 13 points respectively.

A slow third quarter where each team only scored nine points kept the scoring down, with the Wildcats scoring 70 and USA Toulouges only hitting 44. Northwestern didn't play their best basketball, hitting 10 of their 28 three pointers and turning the ball over 17 times (compared to 12 assists). However, it was better than the lowly 1 of 18 their opponent shot from the perimeter.

Highlights are below:

Check out the highlights from tonight’s final game in Spain, a 70-44 win: http://t.co/33SlK9iunT

— NU Men's Basketball (@NUMensBball) August 30, 2015

Also, since I didn't link it the other day...here's Scottie Lindsey's posterizing dunk from the fourth game of Northwestern's exhibition trip:

Spartans Drop Third Game In A Row

Going 1-3 on your exhibition trip isn't exactly the most appealing record, but when you're facing several national teams that are highly talented, it's not as bad as it first appears. Even more so when you realize that Tom Izzo is taking advantage of the decisive increase in talent as his Spartans have a non-conference schedule that includes Kansas, Louisville and Florida.

While Michigan State got blown out in their first two games (though the last one was close down the stretch), the Spartans came up just short against the Georgia national team in a 70-71 defeat, just missing on a 40 foot heave at the end of the game.

Leading the way for State was Gavin Schilling, who added 17 points and 9 rebounds for the Spartans. Also reaching double digits were Bryn Forbes (14) and Lourawls Nairn (10), with the later also adding 9 assists. Michigan State actually trimmed their turnovers, only committing 12 yesterday, and it led to a much more competitive outing. The Spartans still struggled with shooting, though, only hitting 29% of their 21 three pointers and shooting 57% from the free throw line, something that was definitely detrimental in a one point defeat. Still, the Spartans were resilient as they trailed by double digits entering the fourth before almost staging a come from behind victory to finish the trip. They were also without Eron Harris and Alvin Ellis III once again, as both players sat out all four games due to their off the court transgressions this off-season

If it makes things any better, the Spartans were able to take a water taxi back to the hotel in Venice after the game:

The Spartans arrive by water taxi at their hotel in Venice.

A photo posted by Michigan State Spartans (@msu_spartans) on Aug 30, 2015 at 3:43pm PDT