UCLA men trounced by No. 15 Michigan State to close rough trip

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Any hope the UCLA men’s basketball team had of improving its NCAA Tournament resume with a signature win during the toughest road trip in the Big Ten was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Jeremy Fears Jr. had 16 points and 10 assists, leading No. 15 Michigan State to an 82-59 rout of UCLA on Tuesday night, sending the Bruins limping home with a pair of lopsided losses and the worst kind of program history.

UCLA (17-9 overall, 9-6 Big Ten), which lost to then-No. 2 Michigan by 30 points on Saturday, has lost consecutive games by 20-plus points for the first time since the 1944-45 season, according to Sportradar.

The Spartans (21-5, 11-4) bounced back with a strong performance after losing three of four games and falling five spots in the AP Top 25 this week. Fears scored 11 in the first half to help MSU build a 20-point advantage.

UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau scored 22 points but didn’t have much help. None of his teammates were in double figures until Skyy Clark made some late shots to finish with 12 points.

Fears made three 3-pointers in the first half and Michigan State took a 43-23 lead into the break. He finished with a career-high four 3-pointers.

The Spartans shot 8 for 14 from behind the arc in the first half and finished with a season-high 14 3-pointers on 27 attempts.

Coen Carr scored 16 points for Michigan State, Carson Cooper had 12 and freshman Jordan Scott added 11, while Jaxon Kohler contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. The Spartans shot 52.7% from the field overall and outrebounded the Bruins 37-27.

UCLA, which had won five of six games before the trip, never managed a sustained run in the second half and shot just 36.8% overall and 8 for 25 from 3-point range.

UCLA center Xavier Booker, who transferred from Michigan State last April, had two points and two rebounds in 25 minutes.

A 3-pointer by Kur Teng and Carr’s alley-oop dunk off a pass from Fears made it 60-36 with 13:41 remaining.

A bit later, Kohler knocked down a hook shot and Teng drilled another 3-pointer to increase the lead to 69-41 with 7:53 left.

Carr followed with a 3-pointer of his own to push the lead above 30 for the first time with 7:20 remaining.

Tempers flared with 4:26 remaining when Cooper was driving for a dunk and UCLA’s Steven Jamerson II, a former Michigan State student, fouled him hard from behind to prevent him from scoring. Cooper got up and lunged at Jamerson before being intercepted, and Bruins coach Mick Cronin sent Jamerson to the locker room minutes before the officials issued a Class A technical foul.

UCLA held an early 9-7 lead before Michigan State scored the next eight points and 26 of 29 to lead for good.

A Clark 3-pointer brought UCLA within 15-12 with 13:08 remaining before the Spartans scored 18 in a row. Fears and Trey Fort made 3-pointers as Michigan State’s lead reached 15 and Scott ended the barrage with consecutive 3-pointers to make it 33-12 with 6:10 left.

Donovan Dent’s layup ended the Bruins’ scoring drought of just over 8 minutes.

The Bruins remained close for one half against Michigan before being outscored 46-18 in the second half of that 86-56 loss as their defense evaporated.

“We were awful in the second half – we were God-awful,” Cronin said following that beatdown. “We missed eight unguarded threes. If you are going to come in here, you’ve got to score. We have some guys who won’t pass the ball and that is frustrating.

“That’s the worst second-half defensive field goal percentage of my career, in 23 years. They were 18 for 23, shot (78.3) percent, the worst of my career, and I don’t have to look it up – I can promise you that. It’s not like I forgot how to coach defense.”

Michigan State was coming off a 92-71 loss at Wisconsin on Friday – the Spartans’ biggest margin of defeat this season.

UP NEXT

UCLA hosts No. 10 Illinois on Saturday at 5 p.m.

More to come on this story.