Michigan State unable to stop UCLA in 88-84 Big Ten tournament loss
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO – It turns out a flying Carr is no match for Dent damage in the Big Ten Tournament.
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Less than a month ago, soaring forward Coen Carr and Michigan State basketball dominated a UCLA squad that got little from point guard Donovan Dent in East Lansing. But on Friday, March 13, in the late Big Ten quarterfinal, it was Dent dinging the 3-seed Spartans, over and over again, in a 88-84 victory for the 6-seed Bruins.
UCLA advances to the second semifinal Saturday (approximately 3:30 p.m.) against 7-seed Purdue for a spot in Sunday’s Big Ten final against either 1-seed Michigan or 5-seed Wisconsin, who play at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After trailing by 11 at halftime and by 15 a little under five minutes into the second half, the Spartans climbed back to within seven with nearly 12 minutes to play. But Dent answered with a basket; MSU got the deficit down to two with about 43.1 seconds to play, but that was as close as they made it.
Carr had 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists and wowed the crowd with a reverse dunk late in the first half, while Fears led MSU's comeback with 21 points (including 15 in the second half) and 13 assists. The Spartans head home and will have to wait another year to get coach Tom Izzo his first Big Ten Tournament title since 2019.
Dent, who had a triple-double against Rutgers on Thursday night. finished with 23 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, making up for his six points against the Spartans on Feb. 17.
Next up for MSU
The one-and-done Spartans will have to wait for the NCAA tournament selection show on Sunday (6 p.m., CBS). MSU will likely be a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in March Madness, though they’ll likely be headed far from Chicago and the Midwest region, should they make it to the second weekend. The first weekend, though, should bring a visit to Buffalo, New York.
Bear necessities in first half
You could make the argument the Spartans were lucky to head into the half down only by 11. UCLA shot a scorching 62.9% from the field, hitting 10 of 14 2-ponters and seven of 136 3s (53.8%). Add in seven turnovers by the Spartans, which led to seven points for the Bruins, and 14 points in the paint for UCLA, and it could have been worse for MSU. The Spartans outrebounded the Bruins, 17-13, thanks to an 8-1 edge on the offensive glass – mostly because MSU shot just 31% from the floor. They made four 3s (on nine tries) … and just five 2s on 19 tries.
Fears, in particular, struggled with his first-half shot, hitting just two of seven from the floor as he led the Spartans with seven points. Carr delivered another highlight-reel dunk and had six points, four rebounds and two assists.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball one-and-done vs UCLA in Big Ten tournament