Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
10/20/2026 9:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 6 Michigan State fell behind at the half and narrowed the gap in the second half before No. 4 UConn pulled away en route to a 78-70 win over the Spartans in an exhibition game at the Breslin Center on Tuesday night.
Redshirt junior guard Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 14 points and had seven assists and three steals to lead the Spartans, while freshman guard Jasiah Jervis added 11 points.
Recap
The Spartans play their final exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 25, traveling to play Marquette. The game will tip at 1 p.m. (ET), with a live stream available on YouTube.
Redshirt junior guard Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 14 points and had seven assists and three steals to lead the Spartans, while freshman guard Jasiah Jervis added 11 points.
Recap
- Michigan State trailed by eight points, 30-22, at the break but quickly cut the lead to two points, 30-28, after baskets from senior forward Coen Carr, sophomore forward Jordan Scott and a layup from Fears.
- A layup from freshman center Ethan Taylor made it 32-30, but the Huskies pushed the lead back to seven points, 38-31, on a three-point play from Colben Landrew.
- Scott's three-point play with 14:03 left cut the UConn lead to 41-38, and three more times over the next five minutes, MSU trailed by just four points, the last on a layup from Fears with 10:43 left, making it 50-46.
- Taylor's jumper with 9:50 left pulled MSU to within five points, 53-48, but Nils Machowski followed with a 3-pointer to start an 11-2 run over 2:25 to push the Huskies' lead to 64-50 with 6:53 left.
- Free throws from Fears (1:37) cut the lead to 71-64 and an alleyoop to redshirt sophomore forward Jesse McCulloch made it 73-66 with 44 seconds left but that was as close as MSU would get.
- MSU scored just 22 points and shot only 36.4 percent from the floor (8-of-22) in the first half.
- The Spartans committed 12 turnovers, including 10 in the first half.
- MSU hit just 15.0 percent of its 3-point attempts (3-of-20).
- This was the second of three exhibition games for the Spartans.
- The game against UConn marked the second-straight year the teams have played (UConn posted a 76-69 win over MSU last year in Hartford.
- MSU closes out exhibition play on Sunday, Oct. 25 at Marquette.
The Spartans play their final exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 25, traveling to play Marquette. The game will tip at 1 p.m. (ET), with a live stream available on YouTube.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballTuesday, October 20
Thursday, October 15
Friday, October 02
Tuesday, September 22