Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast: Recapping Spartans' Loss to UCLA
No. 9 Michigan State dropped another close one on Tuesday as the Spartans fell, 63-61 to UCLA.
After winning 13 straight games, the Spartans now find themselves facing back-to-back losses for the first time this season.
Turnovers and shooting limited Michigan State in this latest loss, as the Spartans turned the ball over 16 times and shot just 37.7% from the field.
They had multiple opportunities to take the lead in the final 2 minutes, but UCLA would get the game-clinching bucket, securing what was its sixth-straight win.
Our Aidan Champion recaps Tuesday's contest on this latest postgame edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast.
You can watch the episode below:
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo addressed the media after Tuesday's loss. Below is a partial transcript from his opening statement:
Izzo: "Well, I'm not sure we deserved to win the game the way we played in the middle of it. I said that at USC, we didn't compete as hard as we normally do. We turned the ball over a little too much and we missed a lot of free throws. Here, I thought, against Mick's [Cronin] team, because he's a hell of a coach, he does a hell of a job, we competed, we made our free throws, we turned the damn ball over 16 times to their three, and that was the difference in the game. That, along with a couple of things at the end there when we just -- to beat good teams on the road, you got to play hard enough, but you got to play smart enough. And I thought we made some plays early in that game that weren't smart enough. So, that's the only disappointment I had. I'm actually proud of my team. 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. He's [Cronin's] got a lot of weapons, he plays a lot of people, he does a hell of a job with them, and like I said, we played well enough; we didn't play smart enough, and we turned the damn ball over too much. And that was the difference. And they [UCLA] didn't turn it over at all, give them credit."
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
