Through three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, cold spells in February and stretches where offense was a puzzle, Michigan State University men's basketball had an inherent ability to find just enough to win.
On Sunday night in Atlanta, when the shots didn’t fall, the Spartans ran out of answers — and time.
There was no rally this time against the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.
No. 2 seed MSU shot 22-for-64 (34%) in a 70-64 loss to No. 1 seed Auburn in the Elite Eight, going cold for two 10-minutes stretches — one in each half — that produced identical 2-for-16 spells, the first of which propelling the Tigers to a 17-0 run midway through the first half.
The Spartans started 1-for-9 from deep as they went down 23-8 early, finishing 7-for-23 from long range.
"I think we got a lot of good shots during that run," redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. said postgame. "I think we had maybe three or four wide open shots that we could have made."
What followed was a finish befitting a season defined by margins: narrow wins, tight second halves and a team that walked the line of elite all year.
"I feel like we missed some easy looks at the basket early," senior guard Jaden Akins said.
Despite a late push that cut the deficit to single digits in the final two minutes, the Spartans could never escape the damage done by those long offensive droughts. At the center of it were their veteran guards — who got them to this point, but couldn’t carry them over the top.
Akins scored 15 points on 6-for-17 shooting, with 13 of them coming in the final four minutes after MSU fell behind 62-48. Junior guard Tre Holloman went scoreless, missing all 10 of his shots — including five from beyond the arc — finishing with two points, two assists, and two turnovers.
"I wish I could have showed up for my team today," Holloman said, fighting back tears. "I’m just sorry, man."
This wasn’t a night to assign blame, but a reminder of the fine line MSU had walked all season. A team that thrived on depth, defense and toughness simply needed more offense, which never materialized this time.
Freshman guard Jase Richardson scored 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting, 0-for-2 from three. Fears added two points on four shots, five assists and four rebounds.
MSU's backcourt was a microcosm of what it had been all season: vital, relentless and when things got quiet, prone to ice-cold spells.
"Sometimes the ball just don’t fall," Fears said. "We had some great looks and great shots. It’s basketball, it happens."
MSU finished the season shooting over 31% from beyond the arc, ranked outside the top 300 nationally. Though the Spartans had trended upward in that category in winning 11 of 12 straight contests before Sunday, the inconsistency from deep was a lingering issue.
Sunday wasn’t the first time it reappeared — just the first time it proved decisive.
But for a team that started the year unranked, won the Big Ten outright and found ways to fight back again and again, there was still something to hold onto — a season built on togetherness, carried to the brink of another Final Four by the same guards who just didn’t have it Sunday night.
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