Izzo Offers Optimism After Spartans' Second Upset Loss

The Michigan State Spartans and Coach Tom Izzo came out on the losing side of Tuesday night's road battle with the UCLA Bruins. After a second-straight upset loss, Izzo praised his team's toughness but knows his group has work to do.

Feb 4, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo reacts in the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The No. 9 Michigan State Spartans (18-4, 9-2) ended their West Coast road trip with a 63-61 loss to the UCLA Bruins (17-6, 8-4) at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night. Despite losing back-to-back games for the first time this year, Coach Tom Izzo was not all negative about his team's performance.

The Spartans posted their lowest point total of the season, failing to complete a second half comeback against the number one defense in the Big Ten. They shot just 37.7% from the field and 22.7% from 3-point range while turning the ball over 16 times compared to the Bruins' three.

Despite the high number of giveaways and brutal shooting, the Spartans out-rebounded UCLA, 45-27, something they did not do well in their previous loss to the USC Trojans. They bounced back exceptionally well, gaining 14 offensive rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points.

Izzo credited his team's toughness and knows that his team has the effort that is required to be a good team. In the same sentence, he identified that his bunch has a long way to go before they are ready to compete for a Big Ten title and Final Four appearance.

"It's amazing because one of the other things we did poorly the other night was rebound," Izzo said. Tell me about this team, 45 to 27 [rebound margin], I think speaks a little bit about our character and our toughness and that was something I needed to find out too. So, I'm going to leave here with a better basketball team, but it's not good enough until we realize playing hard is not just the ticket. You got to play hard, smart, and good. We got some work to do."

Freshman guard and Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year candidate, Jase Richardson, had his worst showing of the season, scoring just four points on 0-6 shooting in 16 minutes of action. He took a blow to the chest from teammate Xavier Booker that would keep him for a majority of the second half.

"He's [Richardson] bummed out because he thinks he makes most of those shots and he does," Izzo said. "Then he got hurt, but he had been hurt last week and missed some practices. I ain't worried about Jase, I like the fact that he'll take it in there. He gives us a little pizzazz to our offense."

Izzo is continuing to stick by his young star and is not worried in the slightest at his ability to be a key piece for this team. One poor performance does not sum up Richardson's talent and he will surely be looking for a bounce back game when the Spartans face off with Oregon on Saturday afternoon.

Every team will experience some sort of adversity throughout the long college season, but the best ones are able to respond. UCLA lost four straight to start January and have since won six consecutive games. Izzo and his team will look to do the same starting this weekend.

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