Michigan State went over two months without losing a game before taking it on the chin from Southern California.
Now the No. 9 Spartans look to avert a two-game skid in Los Angeles when they visit red-hot UCLA on Tuesday night at Pauley Pavilion.
That 70-64 loss to the Trojans on Saturday didn’t feel good to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Izzo said afterward. “That doesn’t happen to us very often, and I don’t know if we responded very well.”
The setback ended a 13-game winning streak for Michigan State (18-3, 9-1 Big Ten). It was the squad’s first loss since a 71-63 loss to Memphis in the Maui Invitational semifinals on Nov. 26.
The Spartans never led against USC and trailed by as many as 15 points.
Now the test is bouncing back against the Bruins (16-6, 7-4), who mauled No. 16 Oregon 78-52 on Thursday.
“We just gotta realize the things that we did wrong and accept it, but not let it linger over into our next games,” said guard Jaden Akins. “It’s just kind of learn from this game and move on from there.”
The loss prevented Izzo from matching legendary Bobby Knight (353) for the most Big Ten conference wins.
Izzo gets another chance at matching the mark Tuesday, though he’s not real keen about discussing it.
“I have not talked about that at all up until (last week), when people were asking (players) and they brought it up to me,” Izzo said. “… Every team should leave with something that they can hang their hat on. If I’m fortunate enough to do that, this team will have that along with it.”
UCLA is a stellar 11-1 at home this season with the blemish being a 94-75 loss to then-No. 24 Michigan on Jan. 7.
That was during a stretch that preceded the current hot streak when the Bruins lost five of six games.
UCLA began the streak with a 94-70 home thrashing of Iowa before winning the next three games by a combined 13 points. Then came the beatdown of Oregon in which the Bruins never trailed, led by as many as 28 points and held the Ducks to their lowest point total of the campaign.
“Obviously, we jumped on them early, I thought that was the key,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “I’m very proud of our guys for this last stretch of games. It’s been a long grind for us since December, since we started in the Big Ten.”
Guard Eric Dailey Jr. had a huge outing with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting. He made all three of his 3-point attempts.
“It’s good for the wins, it helps winning,” Dailey said of his performance. “Whatever I can do to help us win, whether it’s making shots, rebounding, defending, making one more pass to my teammates, I just like to help winning.”
Cronin was impressed with the performance and credited it to Dailey’s work ethic.
“Eric Dailey is pretty dominant,” Cronin said. “Eric Dailey spends more time in the gym on his shooting and is the most dedicated guy I’ve ever coached on his diet, his rest, his commitment to what he’s trying to accomplish in basketball. And it pays off for him.”
Dailey ranks second on UCLA in scoring at 12.4 points per game, trailing Tyler Bilodeau (14.0).
Akins (13.5) is the lone Michigan State player averaging in double digits.
The Bruins are 7-4 all-time against the Spartans, including an 86-80 overtime victory in the First Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. That was the first of five victories in UCLA’s miraculous run to the Final Four.
–Field Level Media
