B1G Tournament Quarterfinal Preview: UCLA Bruins

Three options for Michigan State’s quarterfinal opponent presented themselves going into Wednesday’s Big Ten Tournament action.

MSU could have faced a rematch with the opponent that handed the Spartans their worst loss of the year (#11 seed Minnesota), a team they had already beat twice but endured a struggle almost every step of the way (#14 Rutgers), or #6 UCLA – who Spartans beat by 23 in the Breslin Center four weeks ago. The game against the Bruins was one of Michigan State’s more complete performances of the year and irritated UCLA coach Mick Cronin so much that he issued a flagrant 2 foul to one of his own players.

Minnesota and Rutgers tipped off Wednesday night and the Scarlet Knights prevailed behind 29 points from Tariq Francis. It was a tight game the whole way, with Rutgers trailing by two at halftime, but the Knights gained some separation in the last few minutes as Minnesota turned it over on six straight possessions to help seal their fate.

The win over Minnesota obviously eliminated the possibility of a revenge game against the Gophers for MSU while Rutgers moved on to face UCLA on Thursday night.

Rutgers could go no further though as UCLA ended the Knights’ season with a 72-59 win in Thursday night’s third round game. After his big night against Minnesota, Francis was held to just six points against the Bruins.

UCLA maintained a six point lead at halftime and then, with the aid of some Rutgers turnovers, when on 14-2 run early in the second half and didn’t really look back. An impressive down the lane dunk by former Spartan Xavier Booker after a Rutgers turnover put the Bruins up 13 midway through the second half and they were able to maintain the double-digit lead for much of the rest of the way.

Booker, who had started against the Spartans in his return to East Lansing, came off the bench in this one to score six points and grab two boards in 15 minutes. But UCLA was led by New Mexico transfer Donovan Dent who recorded the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history with 12 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds in 39 minutes against Rutgers.

Tyler Bilodeau added 21 points and made three of his seven three point attempts in 29 minutes for UCLA. Trent Perry and Eric Daily Jr. also hit double figures for the Bruins with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Many Spartan fans might be relieved to avoid a third meeting with Rutgers but the advantage of playing them could have been fatigue starting to set in as it would have been the Scarlet Knights third game in three days. Instead, MSU gets UCLA who will be on only their second game in as many days and with the momentum of coming off a nice win.

Steve’s preview of the January matchup between the Spartans and Bruins mentioned that Michigan State was coming off a rough loss at Wisconsin and needed to right the ship against UCLA and Robbie’s game recap covers how the Spartans did just that.

This was UCLA’s rotation against Rutgers:

STARTERS

• #34 6-9 SR F – Tyler Bilodeau. 18 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 50.6% FG, 46.2% 3FG, Oregon State transfer
• #2 6-2 SR G – Donovan Dent. 13.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 7.5 apg, 42% FG, 23.7% 3FG, New Mexico transfer
• #55 6-3 SR G – Skyy Clark. 11.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 46.8% FG, 45.5% 3FG
• #0 6-4 SO G – Trent Perry. 12.4 ppg, 45.2% FG, 41.2% 3FG
• #3 6-8 JR F/G – Eric Dailey Jr. 11.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 48.9% FG, 30.1% 3FG, Oklahoma State transfer

BENCH

• #1 6-11 JR F/C – Xavier Booker. 7 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 56.5% FG, 44% 3FG, Michigan State Transfer
• #4 6-5 SR 5th Yr G – Jamar Brown. 4.3 ppg, 42.6% FG, 33.3% 3FG
• #5 6-7 SO G – Brandon Williams. 2.5 ppg, 40.9% FG, 25% 3FG
• #8 6-4 FR G – EricFreeny. 2 ppg, 37% FG, 33.3% 3 FG

In their only matchup this year, the Spartans held Dent to just four assists and six points on 3-11 shooting while also forcing him into four turnovers. Bilodeau was really the only Bruin who was effective at Michigan State with 22 points on 8-16 shooting overall and 3-5 on three pointers.

The Spartans had one of their best shooting performances of the year against UCLA as they hit 53% from the field and an incredible 14-27 on three pointers. It was a balanced scoring effort from the Spartans with Jordan Scott, Coen Carr, Carson Cooper, and Jeremy Fears each scoring between 11 and 16 points and Jaxon Kohler and Kur Teng adding nine apiece.

Michigan State did commit 14 turnovers in the January game against UCLA and the Bruins rank in the top three in the Big Ten in turnovers forced and points off turnovers. The Spartans are probably not going to attempt 27 three pointers again, let alone make 14 of them, this time around against UCLA.

MSU should be eager and focused to get back on the floor again after falling in a hard fought game at Michigan on Sunday but if they come out rusty and sloppy with the ball, this will probably be a lot closer than the game we saw a couple months ago.

As nice as it would be to see the rematch go exactly as the first game, I think the Spartans are going to have to earn this one. Dent and Bilodeau are playing well and Booker provided a nice lift off the bench against Rutgers. If shots aren’t falling like they did last time against UCLA, the Spartans’ strength on the offensive boards can hopefully provide the difference this time. Cronin seemed to question his team’s physicality, at last as far as how it compares to MSU, in his on-court postgame interview after defeating Rutgers.

What say you, TOC? How do you see this one going? Are you happy to face UCLA in the quarters instead of round three with Rutgers?

The Spartans and Bruins tip off at approximately 6 PM (or 25 minutes after the conclusion of Nebraska – Purdue) on BTN.

Go Green!