3 Observations from MSU's Exhibition Defeat at UConn

There was a lot to learn from No. 22 Michigan State's 76-69 exhibition loss at No. 4 UConn on Tuesday night.

It was the first time the world got an opportunity to see what MSU looks like against a very strong opponent, and in a road environment, at that.

Oct 28, 2025; Hartford, CT, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Divine Ugochukwu (99) dribbles the ball against Connecticut Huskies guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) during the second half at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

Connecticut won the game going wire-to-wire --- the seven-point difference is deceivingly close with how the game went --- and some flaws with the Spartans seemed to pop up during the game that were not as glaring against Bowling Green last week.

Here are my three main observations from the game against the Huskies:

Lack of an Alpha Scorer

The biggest hole for Michigan State is that it is not really clear which player the team can reliably turn to get a bucket. MSU had Jase Richardson and Jaden Akins both be that player at times last year, but no such player has risen yet this season.

Coen Carr seemed like he could be that type of player during the first exhibition against Bowling Green, scoring 17 points, but the Huskies’ defense looked more capable at handling Carr’s unique skillset. MSU’s athletic star still finished with 11 points, but left opportunities at the free-throw line, going just 2-for-7.

Of everyone on the Spartans, it seemed the most aggressive offensive player was Jeremy Fears Jr. His 14 points were the most on the team, but that is generally not his role; he's more of a distributor.

Fears didn’t take care of the ball very well either; he dished out six assists, but had a turnover for every other one of them. As a team, MSU finished with nine assists (on 18 made field goals) to 12 turnovers.

Trey Fort did provide some promising-looking minutes towards the end of the game. There’s a battle between him and Kur Teng to be the team’s starting two-guard, and Fort’s play on offense makes it harder to argue against him.

So, So Many Foul Calls

UCon — Oct 28, 2025; Hartford, CT, USA; Connecticut Huskies forward Jayden Ross (23) and Connecticut Huskies center Eric Reibe (12) react to a call during the second half against the Michigan State Spartans at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

There was no shortage of whistles in this one. Perhaps Tom Izzo or Dan Hurley want it that way so the players develop habits of playing clean for the season. Perhaps the players were just fouling a lot. From the outside, it just seemed like a really tightly called game.

Either way, there were plenty of pauses in the action. There were 74 combined free throw attempts during the game and 56 foul calls. That’s… absurd.

It should be noted that Michigan State did not take advantage of its 44 opportunities at the line on Tuesday, shooting just 65.9%.

In total, there were 145 total points in the game. Fifty-two of them came at the charity stripe, which means those accounted for 35.9% of the points. According to KenPom, the Division I average last year was 19.0%.

Beaten on the Boards Again

Oct 28, 2025; Hartford, CT, USA; Michigan State Spartans forward Jaxon Kohler (0) grabs a rebound against Connecticut Huskies forward Jayden Ross (23) and Connecticut Huskies forward Alex Karaban (11) during the second half at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

One thing every single Izzo team has to be able to do is rebound the ball well. That was not the case on Tuesday night. The Huskies out-rebounded the Spartans, 38-34.

In fairness, UConn is a pretty good rebounding team; it ranked 19th nationally in rebound margin last season. MSU was fifth, though, and returns its top two rebounders from last year and three of its best four.

Still, this means Michigan State has been beaten on the glass during both of its exhibition games. Bowling Green had 42 boards to the Spartans’ 41 last Thursday.

It is not a Carson Cooper or Jaxon Kohler issue, though. Those two guys had 10 and 12 boards, respectively. After the BGSU game, Izzo seemed to attribute the lackluster rebounding numbers to MSU’s guards not defending well enough and allowing opponents to penetrate too much.

Oct 28, 2025; Hartford, CT, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Connecticut Huskies at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

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