UCLA basketball suffers another blowout loss against Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – UCLA might need more than a lineup change.

How about a whole new roster?

This team seems incapable of putting up a fight against top opponents based on what’s happened the last two games as part of a season that’s quickly unraveling.

Three days after a 30-point beatdown against Michigan in which they were competitive for a half, the Bruins bottomed out. At least they better hope it doesn’t get any worse than this.

They fell behind by 24 points in the first half on the way to a dreadful 82-59 loss to No. 15 Michigan State at the Breslin Center.

Badly needing to show some toughness, the Bruins instead wilted early. They went scoreless for almost eight minutes in falling behind by 24 points in the first half.

UCLA was equally bad on offense and defense in falling to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in the Big Ten. In a carryover from their brutal second half against Michigan, the Bruins scored 41 points over 40 minutes by halftime against the Spartans.

A low point came when UCLA inbounded the ball with 1.1 seconds left on the shot clock … and didn’t even try to get a shot off, simply holding the ball.

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UCLA coach Mick Cronin stuck with his normal starting lineup after vowing to make at least one lineup change in the wake of the Michigan drubbing.

His belief in his players wasn’t rewarded.

Besides forward Tyler Bilodeau, who scored 22 points on an efficient eight-for-16 shooting, the Bruins didn’t generate nearly enough offense from their starters.

Donovan Dent, Eric Dailey Jr., Trent Perry and Xavier Booker combined for 20 points. That’s just not going to get it done. Not even close.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, Clark went down with about five minutes left, holding his left leg before limping off the court. He had missed more than a month with a hamstring injury in the same leg, though he said afterward he was just cramping.

It was a fitting ending to a brutal evening.

What does it mean?

Beyond the NCAA tournament implications for a bubble team, this was a revenge game gone bad for two Bruins.

Booker had spent his first two seasons at Michigan State before changing schools and positions. Backup center Steven Jamerson II was denied in his attempts to walk on with the Spartans and become a student manager.

Neither had much to feel good about in their return.

Despite orders from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo to welcome Booker back, there were some loud boos for the big man during player introductions.

Booker tallied two points, two rebounds and two blocks. Jamerson essentially got ejected by his coach after committing a hard foul late in the game. As Jamerson came off the court, Cronin tugged on his jersey and motioned for him to head to the locker room.

Turning point

After a competitive opening stretch, Michigan State went on a 23-3 run fueled largely by six 3-pointers. That was the ballgame.

Cronin called two timeouts to try to shift the momentum, to no avail. The coach spent part of one timeout appearing to chastise Dailey about a lack of defense after Michigan State’s Coen Carr had dribbled around him for a layup.

It was a widespread problem for a team that allowed the Spartans to shoot 57.7% in the first half and make eight of 14 3-pointers.

MVP

Michigan State’s shooting coach.

The Spartans were unstoppable from long range, making 14 of 27 3-pointers (51.9%) to prevent any chance of a UCLA comeback. Many of the shots were open as a result of excellent ball movement that repeatedly involved making the extra pass.

Up next

The Bruins conclude their toughest stretch of the season with a home game against No. 10 Illinois on Saturday. There remain plenty of opportunities for quality wins the rest of the way with only Quad 1 and Quad 2 games left on the schedule.