Spartans Facing First Uphill Battle of 2024-25 Campaign

The Michigan State Spartans' journey to the West Coast of the United States did not go according to plan, as they returned to East Lansing with an empty trip, suffering their first losing streak of the season.

While MSU did not play poorly in either game, should this pose concerns for the Spartans going forward?

The negative trend of 3-point shooting came back to haunt MSU on its trip to Los Angeles. Going 5-15 from deep against USC and 5-22 against UCLA, the Spartans did not help their endeavor of completing a successful trip. And, of course, turnovers drastically held them back as well.

Senior guard Jaden Akins, the team's scoring leader on the year, did not perform all too well against USC but turned things around against UCLA. Particularly in the loss to the Bruins, the fault should lie on the production, or lack thereof, of other Spartans.

Akins was the only player on the team to score in double figures against UCLA, and he did so while playing 30 minutes on the court. The next highest scorer was junior forward Jaxon Kohler with 8, but he only saw 13 minutes of court time against the Bruins.

Where does this put MSU going forward? While Coach Tom Izzo was still positive about the road trip, the Spartans lost their first-place spot in the Big Ten, which now goes to the Purdue Boilermakers.

I'm actually proud of my team," Izzo said. "The road trip's the road trip. It isn't as easy as I thought it would be. And yet, it was great, as far as all the things, the practices, everything you could have, but it's a long time on the road for college guys, and I thought we handled it pretty well. I mean, we got beat by -- you can call them -- the hottest team in the league right now, and deservingly so."

Izzo is right -- the Bruins are making a push in their first season in the Big Ten, but MSU shouldn't fret. All it takes is one more win to put it back on course of chasing down the Big Ten regular season title, a feat the Spartans haven't accomplished since 2019-20.

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