MSU basketball plays poor, loses vs. UCLA in Big Ten Tournament
Michigan State basketball laid an egg on Friday night in a disappointing showing at the Big Ten Tournament.
The Spartans trailed throughout the night en route to a disappointing 88-84 loss to UCLA in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. Michigan State beat UCLA by more than 20 points less than a month ago, but a poor performance from the Spartans combined with outstanding shooting from the Bruins paved way to an upset loss on Friday.
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Michigan State left its defense in East Lansing, Mich. in the first half, with one of their worst defensive efforts in an opening half of the season. UCLA shot 63 percent from the field, including above 50 percent from three-point range in the first half, with three different Bruins scoring nine or more points. That strong offensive effort pushed UCLA to a 44-33 lead at halftime.
Michigan State would rally at multiple times throughout the second half, but never took the lead with UCLA continuously hitting big shot after big shot to counter. Ultimately, that was enough to push the Bruins forward to the win.
Michigan State will now await their fate in the NCAA Tournament, with the Spartans in line for either a No. 2 or No. 3 seed. A win over the Bruins would have certainly locked up a No. 2 seed but now the Spartans will have to wait until Selection Sunday to see where they land.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: MSU basketball plays poor, loses vs. UCLA in Big Ten Tournament