3 Instant Observations from MSU's Big Ten Tourney Loss to UCLA
In this story:
CHICAGO --- Michigan State's stay in Chicago will end up being quite brief.
The third-seeded Spartans quickly bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament in their first game, as No. 6 seed UCLA controlled the game most of the way in an 88-84 result on Friday night during the quarterfinal round. MSU had a good comeback effort at the end, but will enter the NCAA Tournament at 25-7 on the season after losing its last two games.
It was Donovan Dent's night for the Bruins. One night after dropping a triple-double against Rutgers, Dent put up 22 points and 12 assists. He and his UCLA teammates kept knocking down three after three, finishing the game with a 13-for-27 (48.1%) mark from deep.
Michigan State now has to wait until Sunday to see who it plays in March Madness and where it ends up. The bracket reveal is after the conclusion of the Big Ten Tournament title game at about 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
UCLA the Early Aggressor
It's not often that a game starts and it feels like Michigan State doesn't really feel like it has a relatively decent grip on things. One thing was clear from the opening half, though: UCLA was there to play and wasn't backing down at all to the team that beat it by 23 points last month.
If you had found a clueless fan outside and pulled them inside and asked them to guess which team was the better seed (assuming they didn't look at anything that gave it away), they would have guessed wrong. The Bruins looked sharper and tougher to start things.
Their defensive intensity also stood out a bit. UCLA doesn't have a ton of size, but it held MSU to a mere 5-for-18 (27.8%) mark inside the arc as the six seed opened up an 11-point halftime lead. Everything in the paint had to be earned and then some for the Spartans. The Bruins constantly clogged up passing lanes, took away easier entry passes, and forced some turnovers.
Michigan State almost seemed surprised. This wasn't the same level of fight it had just seen from this same opponent last month.
Kickouts Knock Down MSU
Three-pointers were raining down for the Bruins during the first half. UCLA ended up shooting 7-for-13 (53.8%) from behind the arc in the first half to help build a lead as large as 13 in the opening 20 minutes. Point guard Donovan Dent --- who entered Friday shooting 23.3% from deep on the season --- went 3-for-3.
He also dealt out some assists on those other made threes. Dent and some of the Bruins' other guards were getting plenty of dribble penetration on Michigan State's defense, leading to tons of kickouts for good looks for their teammates from behind the arc.
The first half, in general, was not a great showing for the Spartans. Their defense usually doesn't get cut up the way it did through 20 minutes. UCLA's 44 first-half points were the most MSU had allowed since giving up 51 in its lopsided loss at Wisconsin.
These kinds of first halves are what Michigan State cannot afford to let happen next weekend in the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins are probably around that 8-seed range, so this game would be relatively equivalent in difficulty to what MSU might see in the second round.
Trey Fort Earns Some Minutes
One of the bright spots in the loss was Trey Fort. He hasn't consistently gotten minutes as of late, but he proved that he belongs on the court on Friday.
During what was normally otherwise a rather weak offensive performance for Michigan State, Fort made a spark. He made a couple of threes and hit another jumper during the second half, helping draw the Spartans within five points of the Bruins at one point.
This is going to force Tom Izzo to make an interesting decision come NCAA Tournament time. Fort had better playing time than Kur Teng and also starter Jordan Scott. The performance isn't enough reason to turn the entire lineup over and be completely different next week, but it definitely feels now like keeping Fort on the bench for 40 minutes would not be wise at this point.
There really were not many more positives out of this one, though. UCLA looked like the stronger team in this one. We'll have to see if MSU did enough to still earn a 2 seed on Sunday, but it doesn't feel like a certainly now after going one-and-done in Chicago.
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika