During warmups before Tuesday’s home loss to Michigan State, junior forward DeShawn Sims took a short break from layups.

He walked over to the Spartans’ bench and embraced Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.

The two smiled and high-fived like old friends, and they had every reason to be amicable.

While at Detroit Pershing High School, Sims was one of the nation’s top players and heavily recruited — especially by Izzo and then-Michigan coach Tommy Amaker.

Izzo saw Sims’s agility in the post, an attribute that would have fit well in the Spartans’ post-oriented system. Sims decided to head to Ann Arbor, and Izzo signed forward Raymar Morgan.

“I see it as, if I get one guard, (Amaker) is getting the other," Izzo told the Lansing State Journal in February 2005, when Sims was an uncommitted high school junior. "That's just the way it kind of works nowadays. ... They're gonna always recruit well, and we're gonna recruit well. I do think this (rivalry) is still growing and is gonna get better and better and better.”

In Tuesday’s 54-42 loss, the Spartans earned their eighth victory in the last 10 meetings in the rivalry.

But if anyone was going to put a stop to Michigan State's domination, it was Sims.

The Spartans’ defense suffocated Michigan’s 3-point opportunities. Five times in the first half, the Wolverines forced desperation shots as the shot clock neared zero.

After the break, Michigan took a different approach.

The Wolverines had just three assists in the entire first half.

Freshman guard Zack Novak picked up three in 82 seconds, all of which went inside to Sims on consecutive possessions and brought Michigan within eight points.

“It was trust in the offense,” Novak said of the second half. “I think in the first half, we got away from things too much and botched some of plays up, and we can't do that. We have to have more poise and I think that we had that in the second half."

Sims finished with a game-high 18 points. Against 6-foot-10 Spartan center Goran Suton, Sims showcased the agility that’s always gotten him attention.

"Find somebody," Michigan coach John Beilein said of the absence of scoring options besides Sims. "It's tough right now. (Freshman) Stu (Douglass) got in foul trouble, our other guys are in a shooting slump. We went to (sophomore) Manny (Harris) a lot, and we went to DeShawn, and DeShawn played well.”

Izzo said he wanted to hold the Wolverines, who average more than 26 3-point attempts per game, to eight or nine made shots.

Izzo’s technique worked and the Wolverines tied a season-low percentage from behind the arc, connecting on just 4-of-24.

Even with the extra defensive pressure, Novak said Michigan could have gotten more shots by having a quick release and using ball fakes. But the Wolverines never found that rhythm from the outside and instead relied heavily on Sims.

When the Spartans lost at home to Penn State and Northwestern — their only conference losses of the season — 3-pointers were the culprit.

The Nittany Lions and Wildcats shot an impressive combined 19-of-38 from behind the arc.

“When you don't get a lot of shots and you're a 3-point shooter, then you can never get in the groove,” Izzo said after his team's win. “I thought that was the biggest difference in the game.”

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