No. 6 Michigan State falls to No. 4 Connecticut 78-70 in physical and sloppy exhibition

It did not feel like an exhibition inside the Breslin Center on Tuesday night, as No. 6 Michigan State faced off against No. 4 Connecticut for an exhibition game. The Izzone was rocking, defensive effort was not in question, and head coaces Tom Izzo and Dan Hurley were their expressive selves. 

It isn’t too often you get a matchup between two top-six teams before the season even officially begins, and you couldn’t tell anyone inside of the Breslin Center that the result of the game didn’t matter. 

However, it was clear from the jump that both teams have a long way to go, and this version of the Spartans and Huskies is not what you are going to get in March.

The Spartans ultimately fell to the Huskies by a final score of 78-70. Let's review how it happened.

Game Recap:

Through the first media timeout, it was a sloppy start for the Spartans, as they had a pair of turnovers and had only made one bucket. Freshman guard Jasiah Jervis then provided a spark for the Spartans by quickly hitting a triple and adding an extra point from the free-throw line a little bit over a minute later.

It was a back-and-forth affair after that, as the Spartans and Huskies both took turns taking the lead back from each other. Despite the environment not feeling like an exhibition contest, the game on the court very much looked like one. 

Both offenses were sluggish and struggled to find much rhythm in the first half. While some of this should be attributed to two of the presumed top defenses in the country going after each other, it was clear that both teams are still working to find the right rotations and actions that will be effective versus top competition. 

The physicality of both of these teams was clear from the jump. Both squads were battling for loose balls, fighting for rebounds and pressuring the ball. That physicality just wasn’t translating to very clean offensive basketball. 

The Spartans failed to make a field goal the last 4:15 of the first half and went into the locker room trailing the Huskies 30-22. Point guard Jeremy Fears led the Spartans with five points on 1-for-6 shooting, while Jesse McCulloch and Jasiah Jervis had four points apiece. 

Perhaps the most surprising was the performance from forward Coen Carr in the first half. Offensively, he was nowhere to be found and defensively he struggled defending against the pick and roll, resulting in a couple of easy buckets for Uconn.

Coming out of the break, Michigan State showed a different starting lineup, deploying freshman Ethan Taylor instead of Anton Bonke at the five. That reinforces perhaps the biggest question mark going into the season for the Spartans, the center position. 

None of the Michigan State centers need to be stars, but they do need someone to rise up and be a reliable contributor. If Taylor can step into that role sooner rather than later, it is a positive development for the Spartans. But that remains to be seen.

It was a much cleaner start to the second half for the Spartans, as they connected on four of its first five field goal attempts in the half and cut the UConn lead to just 32-30 with 17:38 remaining to play. While ball movement was an issue in the first half, the start of the second stanza was a different story. 

As a team, Michigan State had as many assists within the first 10 minutes of the second half as it did in the entire first half. 

However, the Huskies found their rhythm from beyond the arc and were able to keep distance between themselves and the Spartans. Connecticut pushed its lead up to 45-39 with 12:47 left on the clock. 

UConn's Silas Demary Jr. added another 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 48-30 advantage with 12:01 remaining to play. On the ensuing possession, Jervis was fouled on a triple attempt, and he made all three free throws. On the next Uconn possession, Fears took the ball away from Demary and found Carr in transition, bringing the Spartans within four points, at 48-44 with 11:19 on the clock.

It started going downhill from there for Michigan State, as UConn continued its barrage from deep and a Fears spell on the bench stalled the Spartan offense, as the Huskies' lead ballooned to 64-50 with 6:53 left to play.

Entering the final media timeout of the night, the Spartans trailed 67-57 with 3:16 to play. A triple from Fears with three minutes to go cut UConn's lead to a single-digit deficit, but it was too little too late. 

In the end, the Huskies came away with the aforementioned 78-70 victory over the Spartans. On a night where UConn shot 40% from 3-point range, there were too many stretches where Michigan State struggled to find the bottom of the net. 

Fears led all scorers with 23 points, and he added eight assists. Jervis contributed 11 points, while Carr had eight points and five rebounds. 

On the night, MSU allowed the Huskies to collect 14 offensive rebounds and shoot 10-for-25 from deep. Nik Khamenia led Uconn with 19 points and five rebounds, while Demary added 16 points of his own. 

Michigan State has one last exhibition before the regular season begins, as the Spartans travel to Milwaukee on Sunday to face off against the Marquette Golden Eagles. The game is set to tip off at 1 p.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcasted on Youtube.