Well, that one hurt.
Michigan State basketball has been granted an early exit from the 2021 NCAA Tournament following a heartbreaking loss to UCLA in a First Four play-in game. The Spartans fell to the Bruins 86-80 in overtime in Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
Michigan State ends their season 16-14 overall.
This was a particularly disappointing loss as the Spartans entered halftime with a double-digit lead, which quickly evaporated due to some stellar play from UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Johnny Juzang.
Aaron Henry led the Spartans in scoring with 16 points but failed to make a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of regulation, leading MSU into an overtime where UCLA quickly took the lead and didn’t let go. Joshua Langford had 12 points, Malik Hall had 10, and Marcus Bingham played well on defense for stretches and finished with 3 blocks.
The Spartans looked extremely sluggish closing out the game and into overtime, and not to make excuses for a team that struggled much of the season, but I at least wonder if playing a game well past midnight against a west coast squad affected the game at all.
This is an unfortunate way to end the season for MSU, who battled back from a lengthy COVID-19 absence to beat three top-5 teams in two weeks before losing in the first game of both the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments.
