Michigan State basketball rally falls short in Sweet 16 loss to UConn
WASHINGTON − It looked like it would be a runaway. It turned into a dogfight.
Down 19 points in the first half, 3-seed Michigan State basketball summoned up another one of its patented fire-and-brimstone comebacks. Only this time, it was with the Spartans’ season on the line against Connecticut in the Sweet 16.
And Tarris Reed Jr. delivered the final knockout.
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The Huskies' senior center, who struggled at the line early, hit four critical free throws in the final minute, including two with 4 seconds to play to give 2-seed UConn a 67-63 victory in the East region semifinal on Friday, March 27, and prevent what would have been the biggest NCAA Tournament comeback in MSU history.
The Spartans end their season 27-8; they slowly walked over and saluted their fans after shaking hands with the Huskies (32-5), who advance to the Elite Eight against 1-seed Duke on Sunday (5:05 p.m./CBS). Coach Tom Izzo is now 11-6 in his 17 Sweet 16 appearances, part of an NCAA record 28 straight tournament berths.
MSU overcame an abysmal start to rally to take a one-point lead midway through the second half of an epic back-and-forth battle. Carson Cooper scored 14 points with seven rebounds and Jaxon Kohler had 12 points and eight boards in their final game as Spartans. Jeremy Fears Jr. added 13 points and seven assists but committeed four turnovers and was just 5-for-15 from the field. Coen Carr added 13 points.
Reed finished with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists for UConn after missing an October exhibition game against the Spartans. Alex Karaban added 17 points, including three of the Huskies’ nine 3-pointers. Solo Ball added 12 points.
Déjà vu
The start looked eerily similar to MSU’s 76-69 exhibition loss to UConn on Oct. 28 in Hartford, Connecticut. Almost identical, actually.
The Spartans started off that fall game going just 2-for-13, and they were an even more abysmal 2-for-16 to open the Sweet 16 matchup. MSU went 8 minutes, 46 seconds between buckets after a Fears jumper at 18:44 and a Carr layup at 9:58.
Meantime, the Huskies banged in six of their first seven 3-point attempts and ripped off a 22-2 run between Spartan field goals. The Huskies also had six of their nine 3s in the exhibition win by halftime.
And just like in October, MSU found itself trailing by 19 points – only this time, it was less than 10 minutes into the game instead of midway through the second half.
But as they did in the game that didn’t count, the Spartans slogged their way back slowly and methodically. Back-to-back layups by Carr and Kohler for a 4-0 run. A Fears steal and breakaway up-and-under around Reed, then a dish from the All-American point guard to Cooper for an alley-oop. The rough seas began to calm, and the tide started to shift.
After Reed drew Cooper’s second foul with a nifty post-up spin move with 3:09 left before intermission, the former Michigan big man missed the free throw. At the other end, Fears accepted a pick from Kohler, then fed his forward on the pop for MSU’s first 3-pointer after six early misses. Then Jordan Scott drove and hit a cutting Carr for another layup. UConn started to flub up, and Kohler hit a pair of free throws with 1:26 left.
Ball attacked and scored with just over a minute to go, but Fears countered at the other end with his own driving layup. The Spartans got another late defensive stop and somehow clawed their way back to within 35-27 at halftime – better than their 11-point hole in October.
Despite going just 10-for-29, with Kohler’s triple the only one in eight attempts. Despite turning the ball over five times that led to eight points for the Huskies, who shot 56% but didn’t make another 3-pointer in the final 10:37 after their sizzling start. And despite getting outscored 5-2 in transition against UConn’s long-limbed defense.
Kohler had nine points and Carr seven at the break. Fears was just 3-for-8 for six points, while freshmen Scott and Cam Ward combined for nine rebounds in a 20-13 halftime edge on the glass.
Reed and Ball each scored eight at the break, but it was a combined effort as the Huskies had five others add three or more points.
A battle, a war
October, of course, was five months ago. That was five months of seasoning and falling behind and battling back from Fears and Co.
They saved their biggest recovery for the biggest moment. All the way – only to end up falling short.
Fears and Cooper connected on a pick-and-roll out of halftime, with the senior center converting through a foul and finishing the three-point play. Then back-to-back blocks of Reed – the first a soaring swat by Carr that led to an elbow jumper by the junior swingman on offense. Then after Cooper went straight up and down to stuff Reed again, Carr bullied his way on the block over Mullins. The MSU run that covered the end of the first half grew and grew, and the Spartans were back within a point.
Back and forth it went from there, with Kohler and Trey Fort draining 3s as the two teams traded buckets. Then after another Carr layup, Kohler pulled MSU into its first lead since 4-3 with a three-point play – started by a ripped-down rebound from Cooper, who fed it to Fears to spark the transition dish to Kohler through a Ball foul.
Call it inexplicable, improbable, incredible. But MSU went ahead 45-44 with 10:06 remaining. The Huskies looked staggered and gassed.
But they found their bearings. And the slugfest continued, with big baskets and electrifying defensive plays, bodies flying across the floor. An old-fashioned NCAA war.
Kohler lost Karaban for a 3-pointer with 8:30 left, and the helped UConn go on an 8-2 run to extend its lead back to 56-49.
MSU wasn’t finished. Carr drove and lost the ball right to Cooper, who caught it in stride for a two-handed, rim-swinging dunk with 4:37 left. He then drained two free throws.
Reed scored for the Huskies. Then Scott answered with a driving layup for MSU. Fears appeared to have a costly turnover and foul with 2:44 to play, but he quickly atoned by slamming hard into a Karaban screen and dropping to the floor for an offensive foul on UConn. Then at the other end, Fears again found Cooper for a dunk. MSU trailed 58-57, but Karaban responded with a logo 3-pointer that appeared to sway momentum.
What's next for MSU
The Spartans end their season one round short of last year’s Elite Eight trip and two wins shy of another Final Four trip to Indianapolis for Izzo, who is now 61-27 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 11-6 in his 17 Sweet 16 appearances. It also ends the season for senior starters Kohler and Cooper, who went 57-15 over their final two seasons. MSU also loses Trey Fort, Denham Wojcik and Nick Sanders to graduation, and whatever might transpire with potential portal defections, as Izzo experienced last season. Arriving to potentially join Fears, Carr and the others is one of the nation’s best recruiting classes – the group of center Ethan Taylor, shooting guard Jasiah Jervis, point guard Carlos Medlock Jr., and forward Julius Avent – is ranked No. 2 according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings. MSU also is expected to get back swingman Kaleb Glenn from a summer 2025 knee injury that cost him the season and guard Divine Ugochukwu from a foot injury that ended his season in early February.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball rally falls short in Sweet 16 loss to UConn
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