3 winners and losers from Michigan State’s exhibition loss to No. 4 UConn

Michigan State‘s 78-70 loss to No. 4 UConn on Tuesday night shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s watched Tom Izzo basketball over the past 30 years.

The Spartans got off to a slow start, played a sloppy, rusty game, and lacked the necessary on-court chemistry. This should be the worst that Michigan State looks all year and that’s kind of par for the course for Izzo-coached teams at this point in the season.

Fortunately, the game didn’t count and all Izzo has is film on what he needs to work on with this team if they want to contend for a national title.

Who were the biggest winners and losers from the exhibition loss?

Winner: Jasiah Jervis

I won’t call him a surprise because everyone’s been hyping Jasiah Jervis up since he committed to Michigan State, but the freshman guard flashed signs of being a great player. He was aggressive when he got the ball and may have shot just 2-of-6 from the floor, but he wasn’t afraid to hunt his shot even with a defender draped all over him.

It was his first game against a big-time opponent and he looked comfortable so just imagine how good he’ll be moving forward.

Again, this was Jervis’ C+ game and he still stood out.

Loser: Anton Bonke

No need to pile onto Anton Bonke, but everyone can probably agree that he struggled the most of anyone against UConn. He played just six minutes and was promptly taken out when he was giving up offensive boards to much smaller UConn players. Bonke also let a Jeremy Fears pass go right through his hands and looked completely rattled.

Let’s hope this was an outlier, but Bonke has a lot of fans sounding alarm bells on the center position. This is Ethan Taylor’s job to lose now. MSU played a lot of small-ball.

Winner: Jordan Scott

Enjoy Jordan Scott while you can because he may not be playing college basketball for a whole lot longer if he continues his meteoric rise as an all-around player.

Scott had just seven points on 3-of-8 shooting but he was making the right plays all night and stuffed the stat sheet. He’s an excellent defender, usually a very good shooter, and he doesn’t make a ton of mistakes. If there’s one word to really describe his game, it would be “smooth”.

The rising sophomore was one of the more impressive players on the floor in a top-six matchup and he didn’t even play one of his better games. The sky is genuinely the limit.

Loser: 3-point shooting

Another season, another sluggish start from 3-point range. Michigan State has begun the past few seasons ice-cold from the 3-point line and it’s starting to feel like that trend will continue after a 3-for-20 performance from deep.

Kur Teng went 0-for-3, Jordan Scott went 0-for-2, Carlos Medlock was 0-for-4, Coen Carr was 0-for-3, and Jesse McCulloch missed his only attempt. Not great.

Thankfully Jervis salvaged a near 3-point-less evening with a 2-for-5 performance.

Winner: Jeremy Fears Jr.’s athleticism

Welcome back, Fears’ athleticism.

After being shot in the leg as a true freshman, Fears had to essentially learn how to walk again and then he slowly got some of his athleticism back. In 2025-26, he looked like he was almost fully back to being an explosive point guard again, but he would even say that he wasn’t quite there yet.

That’s since changed. He’s back. His athleticism is back. Fears proved this with an insane driving dunk that caught everyone — and I mean everyone — off guard.

If this is what we can expect moving forward, defenses are going to have a nightmarish time trying to defend him. Well, more than they already do.

Loser: Defense

Holding the No. 4 team in the country under 80 points should be a win, but Michigan State’s defense really didn’t play well considering UConn was without Braylon Mullins and Solo Ball who’s been ruled out for the year. The defense was giving up way too many clean looks.

We touched on perimeter defense lacking in last night’s post-game takeaways but it wasn’t just that, it was the defensive effort throughout the game.

Missing assignments, fouling 3-point shooters, getting beat off the dribble, giving up too many offensive boards, and fouling all led to a lackluster defensive performance from this team. The good news is that this is probably the worst the defense is going to look all year.

Bonus winner: Tom Izzo

How many coaches have the luxury of scheduling a top-five opponent in exhibition play and having them “expose the warts” before the season begins? Not many, but Izzo and Dan Hurley being friends may have just helped Michigan State’s development this season. UConn exposed what Michigan State needs to work on and Izzo should send them a thank you card and a fruit basket because the Spartans know exactly what to fix.

Testing your team this early in a game that doesn’t count nor matter is a luxury that not all teams have, but Izzo is an evil genius and knew what he was doing with this game.

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