Spartans battle back from halftime deficit, briefly take lead in second half, but can’t hold on
Sixteen to three. That was the turnover disparity in tonight’s game and, in some sense, it’s amazing that the Spartans only lost by two points. MSU’s 16 giveaways led to 19 UCLA points. On top of that, MSU couldn’t get its run game going for the second game in a row, finishing with just nine points on the break.
After Tom Izzo described the start against USC as “atrocious”, the first four minutes did go much better for the Spartans tonight behind some improved rebounding.
UCLA opened the scoring with a straightaway three pointer but the Spartans responded with an eight point run which included threes from Jeremy Fears and Jaden Akins.
After a Bruins bucket, two Tre Holloman jumpers – his only ones of the game – in the lane put MSU up 12-5. Holloman, however, fouled Skyy Clark on a three pointer and Clark hit all three coming out of the first media timeout to make it 12-8, MSU.
Jase Richardson went inside to Xavier Booker for a slam and one to put the Spartans back up seven but that would be the high point of the half for MSU as the Spartans would get outscored 27-13 until the break.
A seven point UCLA run got it back to 15 apiece with 11:44 to go. It was still tied at 18 at the 7:41 mark after Booker gave up an offensive rebound and put back but then hit a three pointer, which would be MSU’s last of the half. Jaxon Kohler also picked up two quick fouls in this stretch and went to the bench.
From here, the Spartan’s offense went extremely cold while UCLA’s seemed to flow much more smoothly with a few nice slip screens leading to easy buckets. The Spartans, however, still held a 24-22 and had a chance to extend it with Holloman three. It didn’t fall though and then a Lazar Stefanovic triple put UCLA ahead 25-24.
The Bruins would extend it from there to 35-28 at the half. MSU would close the half with zero field goals in the final 4:07 and shoot only 10-29 from the floor. This included 3-12 from beyond the arc after the early threes from Akins and Holloman. MSU narrowly won the first half rebounding and points in the paint battle but committed eight turnovers to UCLA’s two. At one point, Holloman and Akins appeared to be on different pages on two separate possessions, with each player throwing it to where he thought the other was going to be, but not where he was.
Another frustration for the Spartans appeared to be the guards getting bumped – hard – on the perimeter with UCLA being free to get away with it. Even from this view atop Pauley Pavilion, it looked pretty clear on a few occasions that the Spartan perimeter players were not being allowed to move freely.
The Spartans hung in there and battled back in the second half though, which opened promisingly with a corner three from Akins. From there, however, UCLA opened up a 48-37 lead before MSU would methodically work their way back into it with defense and rebounding.
A Coen Carr pull up jumper got it back to nine, Frankie Fidler and Richardson worked their way to the free throw line, Holloman hit Carr for a lob, Akins took Aday Mara to the paint and somehow got it to fall and it was suddenly just a two point deficit with 7:09 to go and the MSU crowd back into it.
Now, UCLA was struggling to score and MSU was taking advantage. Carson Cooper tied it with two free throws coming out of the media time out but Eric Dailey Jr. corralled an airball three point attempt, got pushed by Carr, and hit both free throws to put UCLA back up.
A Fidler steal and lay in tied it again at 56 with 5:18 to go. Fidler rebounded Clark’s missed three and then UCLA’s tenth foul put Fears at the line for MSU. Fears hit one of two to give MSU its first lead since 24-22 but Tyler Bilodeau got Carson Cooper in the air in the paint and drew a foul. His two free throws put UCLA back up by one.
MSU followed with a missed three from Akins but an offensive rebound and a nice screen from Cooper led Akins to the rim for the finish and MSU was back up 59-58. Akins had a chance to extend it for MSU but his next drive wouldn’t fall. Stefanovic followed that miss by draining a wide open three for a 61-59 lead with 2:42 left.
After an Izzo timeout, Fidler missed a three but the Spartans secured another second chance leading to a Kohler lay-in tying it at 61 with 1:50 to go. Unfortunately that would be the last MSU bucket as their remaining possessions ended in two turnovers and a missed three at the buzzer.
Dailey Jr. put UCLA ahead with a strong drive and finish in the middle of the lane with 7.5 seconds to go. Akins had a good look at a potential game winner at the buzzer but it didn’t fall and MSU finished their West Coast swing with two losses.
In his postgame presser, Izzo questioned MSU’s first half shot selection after they got the early lead. He also praised UCLA’s Mick Cronin for the way his team responded after a rough four game skid earlier in the season. Cronin, for his part, was very complimentary of Izzo and MSU, saying when he interviewed for the UCLA job, he vowed to model it after Izzo’s program.
After leading the Big Ten the entire first half of the season, the Spartans now find themselves in second place – a half game back of Purdue and a half game up on Michigan. Perhaps worse, the poor shooting may finally be catching up to the Spartans. The fast-paced, high scoring offense that we mostly saw for nine games seems to have hit a snag in California, more resembling the struggles we’ve seen for the last few years.
Akins scored 15 tonight on 6-14 shooting, including 3-7 from deep, but no other Spartans hit double figures. Kohler had eight and no one else had more than six. Richardson had four and played only 16 minutes, leaving the game in the second half after the referees noticed him struggling and stopped play so he could come out.
Akins probably needs to be the go to guy for MSU but he needs the help he was getting in the first nine games.
The Spartans have suffered some February struggles over the years but, if they want to stay in the thick of the Big Ten race, this can’t go on much longer. A tough back half schedule awaits, starting with Oregon on Saturday.