No. 8 Michigan State had its way with UCLA in East Lansing last month, but that wasn’t the case on Friday night, as the Bruins got the better of the Spartans in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament.
What happened to Tom Izzo’s squad?
“I was really disappointed in how we played,” Izzo said about Michigan State, which was the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, in his postgame press conference on Friday night after the Spartans’ 88-84 loss to the Bruins. “I give a lot of credit to UCLA, though. We beat them by 23 [points] at our place, and [UCLA head coach] Mick [Cronin], like he ought to do, acquired his group prepared, they usually performed more durable, more durable, and that does not occur to my group fairly often, however for some purpose, we didn’t reply the bell popping out. We missed some photographs, however they in all probability missed a play or two, so that they undoubtedly kicked us from begin to end and deserved to win the sport.
“We nearly made a valiant comeback, however that will’ve been too little, too late with the way in which we performed, and I believe they made us play that approach. They got here at us. They punched us within the mouth, and we did not reply. It would not occur fairly often. We’ll determine why, after which we’ll transfer ahead.”
UCLA led by 11 factors at halftime and led by as many as 15 factors with 15:12 remaining within the second half. Michigan State acquired inside two factors with 43 seconds remaining within the recreation, however Trent Perry‘s six made free throws within the closing 40 seconds helped the Bruins put the sport away and advance to the Massive Ten semifinal spherical, the place they will play the No. 18-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET).
The Bruins had the sport’s main and No. 2 scorers, as Donovan Dent totaled 23 factors, 12 assists, six rebounds and 4 steals and the aforementioned Perry completed with 22 factors. Elsewhere for UCLA, Eric Dailey had 14 factors, 10 rebounds, 4 steals and two blocks, whereas Skyy Clark tallied 15 factors. For Michigan State, Jeremy Fears Jr. totaled 21 factors and a game-high 13 assists.
After all, the final time these two groups met (Feb. 17), chaos ensued for UCLA. First, Cronin ejected his own player, Steven Jamerson II, after he dedicated a tough foul. Then, Cronin informed the press that he could not give a “rat’s ass” in regards to the Michigan State scholar part chanting at Bruins ahead Xavier Booker, who transferred to UCLA after enjoying two seasons at Michigan State.
The Friday night time loss dropped Michigan State to 25-7 total (15-5 in Massive Ten play). Previous to Friday’s slate of Massive Ten video games, FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy had the Spartans as a No. 2 seed within the West Area of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Event and the Bruins (23-10, 13-7) as a No. 7 seed within the East Area.
