Slow starts don’t win games

This season, MSU has dealt with its share of slow starts. None was worse than the one it showed against UConn. From the tip, the Huskies were dominant — they didn’t give MSU an ounce of breathing room on either end of the court. Their efficient offense was driven by ball movement and smart shot selection, while their suffocating defense relied on ball pressure and strength in the post.

The opposite was true for MSU. For most of the first half, the Spartans were a shell of themselves — a struggling team with shaken confidence and poor discipline. MSU had trouble generating quality shots against a punishing UConn defense, and when it did, it couldn’t convert. Meanwhile, it faced a Huskies offense that rarely missed. UConn finished the first half shooting 6-for-9 from 3-point range, while MSU went 1-for-8.

The Spartans were sloppy, unprepared and inferior. They were everything UConn wasn’t. What this slow start resulted in was a deficit of 19. Through ten minutes of unmotivated play, the Spartans found themselves trailing 25-6. 

“I thought they wore us down,” Izzo said. “Mark my words, UConn's a really good team, but we did not look ourselves in that first half.”

MSU finished the first half on a 9-2 run, cutting its deficit to eight. The run extended to 16-2 with 16:39 left in the second half, giving the Spartans a burst of momentum. With 10:06 remaining, MSU took a 45-44 lead. Despite the comeback, which ultimately fell short, the early part of the game had given UConn opportunities it should never have had.

A different beginning could have made for a different end. 

A plague of scoreless possessions

UConn misses a shot, MSU grabs the rebound and the Spartans push the ball to the top of the key with a chance to score — but they can’t convert. Scoreless possessions throughout the game limited MSU’s impact. Whether it was a turnover — the Spartans had 10 on the night — or a missed shot, points were left on the board.

MSU’s missed opportunities on offense became a recurring theme, and UConn took full advantage. The Spartans would follow a strong defensive play with a missed shot or an errant pass out of bounds. The pattern intensified in the second half, as turnovers by sophomore guard Jeremy Fears and missed shots by seniors Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler gave the Huskies the fuel to pull out the win.

“We missed a couple of easy baskets,” Fears said. “If we were neck and neck, we’d have a better chance of winning. But they played great, and we missed some shots and committed too many turnovers.”

Fears would finish going 5-for-15 with 13 points, seven assists and four turnovers. Cooper and Kohler would combine for 26 points on a 9-for-19 shoot display with 15 rebounds and four turnovers.

The freshmen freshmened 

Over the past month, Izzo has voiced the importance of what guard Jordan Scott and forward Cam Ward mean to this team. Both are freshmen, and for victory to arrive, both were asked to play like upperclassmen. Against UConn, their freshmen forms were unveiled. 

While Ward had his struggles, Scott struggled the most. The starting guard played 23 minutes and was unable to make a significant impact. He endured a rough shooting night, lost his man on several defensive plays, and lacked the usual intensity he brings. As Izzo said, he “looked like a freshman.”

Unlike Scott, Ward held his own defensively. He was a presence against Husky center Tarris Reed and aided the Spartans in the paint. It was his offense that was inefficient. In the face of Reed, he struggled to put shots up, and when he did, they were often missed. 

Scott would finish shooting 2-for-5 with five points and five rebounds. Ward would finish shooting 1-for-4 with two points and six rebounds. When two role players fail to make their mark in a game where all hands are needed, it affects the rest of the team. This was seen for MSU against UConn, as Scott and Ward’s insufficient play negatively affected the Spartans overall ability to move onto the Elite Eight.

“Scott has struggled a little bit because he’s a freshman,” Izzo said. “Young guys are supposed to make the mistakes, but old guys aren’t.”

In 2019, Washington D.C. was a friend of MSU. In 2026, it was a foe. With MSU’s 67-63 loss to UConn, the Spartans season comes to an end in the Sweet 16.