For a second time since November, Michigan State basketball dropped a game. It was actually the second straight loss for the Spartans who took a trip to the West Coast and went 0-2, losing to USC on Saturday and then UCLA on Tuesday night, 63-61.
The Spartans couldn't overcome poor shooting and turnovers, losing to the 17-6 Bruins on the road despite out-rebounding UCLA 45-27 and dishing 13 assists on 20 made baskets.
Winning the rebounding battle by that wide of a margin and still losing hurts but Tom Izzo can rest on the fact that his team didn't give up despite trailing by double figures in the second half of a low-scoring, defensive affair.
What did we learn from Tuesday night's loss?
1. Half-court offense was horrible
Watching Michigan State grab 14 offensive rebounds and get countless second chances only to come up empty more often than not was aggravating. This team had chances to take leads late and even extend on it to three points, but the best the Spartans could do was lead by one and that's because they couldn't figure it out in the half court.
UCLA has been one of the best teams in the Big Ten over the past few weeks and the Bruins have an elite defense, but the offense was disjointed and shot itself in the foot.
2. Jase Richardson had a rare off game
Was this the freshman wall or was this just a one-off? Jase Richardson was 0-for-6 from the floor and while he was able to score four points at the line, he just looked off. He had some uncharacteristic misses from close range and also was off the mark from deep. It was one of those head-scratching off-games for the freshman guard.
Let's hope he got that out of his system and is ready to get back to business.
3. There's clearly a lot to work on still
That comfortable two-game lead in the Big Ten standings has now evaporated and the Spartans actually trail Purdue in the conference by percentage points. After this two-game road swing out west, it's clear that this team is far from perfect and has a lot of work to do.
For one, the Spartans need an alpha in late-game situations. Down two with under 10 seconds left, Michigan State scurried down the floor with no real plan in place (it seemed) only for Jaden Akins to throw up a prayer from deep at the buzzer. There's no alpha right now and while that might hurt here and there, it also could make defenses work that much harder.
Michigan State should've earned the split on the West Coast, at least, but came up 0-2 and is now 18-4 on the year. There's no reason to worry right now, but there's plenty of work to do still.