Three takeaways from Michigan State basketball's loss to UConn

After a remarkable season that started with Michigan State basketball ranked at No. 21 in the country and saw the Spartans surge as high as No. 8, MSU's NCAA Tournament run was stopped short on Friday night at the hands of perennial championship contender UConn.

The Huskies took down the Spartans 67-63 . Below, you can see our takeaways from the loss: 1. Slow starts have defined the season We've seen it time and time again this year.

This 2025-26 MSU team, for whatever reason, has been a slow starter. We've seen it lead to discouraging losses against Michigan, and nail-biting overtime wins against Rutgers. Ultimately, that was the story of this game as well, as UConn took a nearly 20-point lead to start the game.

Like the Michigan loss in East Lansing, it was clear that the Spartans had to use so much energy clawing their way back into the game, they were pretty depleted by the end of the game, which, honestly, was a bit of a mess. 2. UConn's guards were able to slow down Fears In the dominant modern era of UConn basketball, they have been known for their superb defensive guard play.