EAST LANSING, Mich. — While forwards Mike Wilkinson, Alando Tucker and Zach Morley orchestrated a strong performance from the frontcourt in Thursday’s loss to Michigan State — combining for 45 of Wisconsin’s 64 points — the Badger backcourt failed to strike a tune for most of the evening.

Led in scoring by freshman Michael Flowers with six points, the Wisconsin guards shot just 6-for-19 from the field, with all but one of those successful looks coming from 3-point range.

During the first half, turnovers frequently affected Wisconsin’s rhythm as the Badgers fell behind by as much as 14 before rallying back. With five of the seven first-half miscues coming at the hands of Badger guards, the loss of control on transition opportunities eventually dampened their willingness to take the ball inside. By halftime, the backcourt remained, cumulatively, scoreless.

The Badger guards finally got on the board with 17:38 left in the second stanza when Flowers drained an open shot from beyond the arc on a feed from Hanson.

Following the loss, the Wisconsin backcourt credited the Michigan State defense for taking away the easy opportunities.

“In the beginning of the game, they forced us to shoot some jump shots instead of working it inside,” off-guard Kammron Taylor said.

In his worst offensive showing since being held scoreless by Indiana Jan. 8, point man Sharif Chambliss managed only three points on 1-for-7 shooting. Sharp-shooting off-guard Clayton Hanson also contributed to the score on just a single trey.

Even the usually road-savvy Taylor couldn’t hit his groove at the Breslin Center. Among all of the struggling Wisconsin guards, Taylor’s drought endured the longest, not ending until 4:07 remained on the game clock.

On the defensive end of the floor, the Wisconsin backcourt also came upon hard times in the loss. With the Spartans’ deep guard rotation attacking the hoop in waves, several Badgers got into foul trouble late in the second half. In a fashion uncharacteristic of Wisconsin basketball, two starters — Chambliss and Hanson — fouled out of the game.

“They just took it at us, man,” Taylor said. “They were the more aggressive team today and it showed.”

Anderson cashes in on the dribble penetration: In an attempt to counter an explosive pack of Spartan guards, Ryan opted prior to tip-off to bench center Andreas Helmigk in favor of the three-guard starting lineup utilized frequently by the team in recent weeks.

While the decision created a potential mismatch in the post for standout Michigan State center Paul Davis to exploit, oddly enough it was undersized four-spotter Alan Anderson who answered the call. Attacking Wisconsin on the dribble penetration, Anderson shot a perfect 10-for-10 and converted on all seven opportunities from the line to post 28 points on the night.

“You name it, he did it,” Ryan said of Anderson’s performance. “We were impressed. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what we needed to see.”

“When a guy’s in that type of comfort zone, he’s pretty hard to stop,” Tucker added.

For Wisconsin, the scenario echoed an earlier difficulty in containing the dribble penetration suffered against Illinois fewer than two weeks ago. After that loss, Illini point guard Deron Williams cited the Badger guards’ inability to protect the driving lanes as a weakness for the team. Following Anderson’s scoring romp Thursday night, several Spartans agreed with Williams’ assessment.

“Alan Anderson had a heck of a game. There were a lot of matchup problems that he put on people,” Michigan State guard Shannon Brown said. “(Because of the dribble penetration) he drove it, shot it from the outside, he had lay-ups … that’s one of [Wisconsin’s] weaknesses. They just couldn’t mess with that.”

A noteworthy win: In addition to securing its first win against a top-25 team this season — a significant achievement nearing the NCAA tournament seeding — Michigan State also tabbed a symbolic victory by defeating the Badgers for the first time since Ryan became head coach.

After six-straight losses, including one that broke the Spartans’ then-record 53-game home-winning streak, the end result of the most recent encounter was well received among the Michigan State players.

“It doesn’t get any better,” Anderson said after the game. “I can’t describe it. They took a lot from us — our streak, a couple of championships … we wanted this game. We had to have this game.”