Michigan State's Dream Slips Up, Frustratingly Messed Up!
It was a one-and-done exit from the Big Ten Tournament for Michigan State basketball. UCLA exposed the Spartans' thin margin for postseason mistakes.
CHICAGO – Sometimes, Michigan State basketball runs into a hot-shooting team and loses. See Middle Tennessee State, from the archives, and Wisconsin just a month ago. Rarely, though, does coach Tom Izzo walk away from a defeat feeling like he did after watching a Big Ten tournament melt away like it did against UCLA on Friday, March 13.
The Bruins bombed away from 3-point range, making 13 of them. But they also banged and bruised with the Spartans , who mounted a too-late comeback in their 88-84 loss and quick exit from the league tourney . And the verbiage the Hall of Fame coach delivered in his 31st season was cutting – such as “out of sorts” and “not ready to play” – in describing the ongoing defensive breakdowns and yet another slow start, after appearing to have corrected that in the final weeks of the regular season.
JEFF SEIDEL: What was Michigan State basketball lacking against UCLA? Desperation “We didn't bring the energy we had in practice to the game,” said junior forward Coen Carr, who had 12 points and eight rebounds. “They started off and punched us in the mouth, then we didn't respond.
By the time we responded, it was too late. ” But Izzo’s most apt analysis in the instant aftermath: UCLA played with desperation that is needed in March, “and we did not look desperate. ” And his most damning criticism of his team: “I just did not think that was a Michigan State effort.
Continue to the original source for the full article.