The 2025-2026 season is over for the Michigan State men's basketball program. The Spartans were defeated by Connecticut in the East Regional semifinals (Sweet 16) round of the NCAA Tournament, 67-63. The loss also means that it is the end of the college road for MSU's seniors.

Senior Carson Cooper, senior Jaxon Kohler, sixth-year senior Trey Fort, graduate senior Denham Wojcik and senior Nick Sanders have put on a Michigan State uniform for the last time. They've played their final game under head coach Tom Izzo.

In a somber locker room following the loss, Cooper, Kohler and Wojcik discussed the ga,e against the Huskies, the season as a whole, their basketball careers and what is next for them.

Carson Cooper is grateful for his time in East Lansing and is proud of his team for its fight

"It's going to hurt for a little bit fir sure," Cooper said about the Sweet 16 loss to the Huskies. "But thinking about my four-year career here, it's been everythign and more than I what I expected. It's a bittersweet moment for sure, but looking at all the relationships I made, all the games, all the winning (of) games, the off the court stuff, it's worth it. I'm so glad I was able to experience it.

Michigan State's undoing happened in the first half when the Spartans missed 13 field goal attempts in a row during a nearly nine-minute stretch from the 18:46 mark until the 9:59 mark in the opening half. Junior forward Coen Carr made a layup to end finally the Spartans' drought and make the score 25-8 in UConn's advantage. Starting with Carr's bucket, MSU closed the first half on a 21-10 run to cut the Huskies' lead to 35-27 at halftime.

The Spartans also outscored the Huskies 36-32 in the second half, and even regained control of the lead briefly on a couple of occassions. Michigan State also out-rebounded UConn by a tally of 39-30, including a 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass.

However, the furious comeback attempt was too little, too late, and the poor start was too much to overcome.

UConn made six of its first seven attempts from 3-point range, while MSU made just two of its first 16 field goal attempts in total. Cooper is well aware that his team — or any team — isn't likely going to win a game that way, especially against a team like Connecticut. For Cooper, though, he was proud of the way his squad fought back after MSU found itself down by 19 points early.

"We just kept fighting," Cooper noted. "We knew that, obviously, we didn't make a lot of shots. We weren't really executing well. I didn't play great in the first half, which was crucial to where we wanted to be. But, kudos to all of our guys. Like all year, we've been down and out in so many games where there's no way that we should come back, and we just grinded.

"We grit our teeth and forced our way back, and to come from down 19 (points) early and cut it to eight at half and come in and take the lead a couple times in the second half, it's kudos to these guys. And I think that bad start took it out of us."

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