Three takeaways from Michigan State basketball's loss to UConn
· Yahoo Sports
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:
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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. That ended up being a major difference-maker in this one, as UConn's guards, in particular, Silas Demary Jr., made life very difficult for Jeremy Fears Jr.. Fears looked uncomfortable the whole night, was 5-15 from the floor and had four turnovers on the night, missing several 'easy' shots he normally handles. Fears has been the engine of this team all year and UConn successfully slowed him down.
3. Some good building blocks for the future
In this era of college basketball, you have to look at each season independently. Even at Michigan State, you don't know who will be back next season. That being said, assuming the players that can return, will return, there were some bright spots in this game to build upon for next year. The biggest one for me continues to be Jordan Scott, who has been a revelation for the Spartans all year. Scott was second on the team in plus-minus in this game, going plus-seven in his minutes. I actually would have loved to see MSU get Scott some more shots in this one. If he's back next year, he should be a bigger focal point of the team, in my opinion.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Three takeaways from Michigan State basketball's loss to UConn