WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Michigan State played an impressive start, then struggled through most of the second half due in large part to its own miscues before making a late push to extend the game.
That’s how things went for Michigan State in its NCAA Tournament play-in game loss to UCLA on Thursday night.
But it could also describe the Spartans’ season as a whole.
“That’s the way the season went,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. “And you just can’t make the same mistakes over and over and over again.”
A season that’s been frustrating for so many came to a fitting end on Thursday night at Mackey Arena.
After looking promising for much of the game and leading by as many as 14 points, the Spartans sputtered down the stretch and made key mistakes in its loss to the Bruins.
The errors were big and small, obvious and subtle. Spartans players didn’t follow the scouting report, allowing UCLA players to drive their preferred directions for easy buckets, particularly in the second half. They missed a key overtime free throw, didn’t grab rebounds and had miscues on a defensive night that Izzo called “incredibly poor.”
That all left Izzo saying what he’s said about his team much of the season: that it has a small margin for error. On Thursday, the Spartans once again exceeded it.
“We know the margin for error for us is really slim, so those small mistakes, we knew we couldn’t have those,” Izzo said.
Perhaps the costliest miscue came with 37 seconds left: UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed a free throw but was able to get his own miss after no Spartans player boxed him out in an apparent miscommunication. That extra possession became a layup, and a foul allowed him to hit a game-tying free throw with 28 seconds left.
On the other end, Izzo called for Aaron Henry to drive to the basket and try to get fouled, but Henry settled for a long pullup jumper that missed the rim entirely.
“I think we played Aaron so much he was just run down,” Izzo said.
Izzo blamed fatigue on Henry and others for how the Spartans finished the game. The Spartans went 2-for-9 to close the game and missed all but one of their shots and overtime.
The most public mistake, meanwhile, was a missed switch on the last play of the first half that allowed UCLA to hit a 3-pointer. It became the most public because it resulted in Izzo grabbing Gabe Brown on the way to the locker room, then Brown pulling away and Izzo running after him. The coach downplayed the incident after the game. Brown wasn’t made available. But it had already become a national talking point.
That play sullied what was otherwise a standout first half for the Spartans, in which they shot better than 55 percent and had standout ball movement the likes we’ve seen only flashes of recently, plus just four turnovers. Izzo called it his team’s best offensive half of the season.
The game oddly mirrored Michigan State’s season. The Spartans started the season 6-0 and raised hopes for a deep and talented offensive team.
But as the season approached the midway point, cracks started to show. The Spartan’s offense became labored and disjoined, as it looked at times in the second halves on Tuesday. And often in close games, Michigan State couldn’t make the plays it needed to down the stretch.
Seeing those errors crop up again at the season’s most critical juncture was fitting, if still disappointing.
“We made some of the same mistakes we’ve made two or three times this year in critical situations,” Izzo said.
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Michigan State’s season comes to fitting, mistake-filled end in NCAA Tournament opener - MLive.com
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