EAST LANSING – When Tom Izzo thinks Michigan State basketball isn’t playing with the fire and toughness he demands, the practice after a lackluster game usually gets a little chippier.
The Hall of Fame coach didn’t like what he saw from the Spartans in their 76-69 loss to Connecticut on Tuesday, Oct. 28. And even though it was an exhibition, Thursday’s first practice back on the court turned far more physical and intense.
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With purpose.
“I was very disappointed after the game. I did not think we played with the defensive intensity that we needed,” Izzo said after practice Thursday. “Now, we did make some coverage changes, we tried to do a few new things. So it’s not all the players – we did play people, we got caught with a bunch of new guys in there at the same time, we didn’t want to do that. But we played a very good team. …
“The intensity level has to be there every day. ”
The good news? It didn’t count, MSU’s second and final exhibition test after beating Bowling Green on Oct. 23.
The bad news? Izzo and his staff have only the weekend to get things fixed before the games get real Monday night at Breslin Center against Colgate (7 p.m./BTN+).
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“I think the two exhibitions helped a lot, just understanding where we are and where we need to get,” said sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who had 14 points and six assists but also six turnovers against the Huskies. “And how much better we need to get.”
NOT MAGIC, TOO! When Magic Johnson, the most positive man on social media, calls you out? It’s game over.
MSU got beat on the boards in the first half, 20-14, while giving up eight offensive rebounds that led to 15 UConn second-chance points. The Huskies shot 40% from 3-point range and 43.3% overall to build an 11-point lead at halftime. They also had a 16-3 points off turnovers edge on the Spartans’ eight giveaways, three of them from Fears.
In the second half, MSU nipped UConn on the glass, 20-18, but also did a better job preventing offensive boards. The Spartans turned their 9-4 offensive rebounding advantage into an 11-2 edge in second-chance points to climb back in the game.
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“I didn’t like the way we defended, I didn’t like the way we rebounded. And if you don’t defend and rebound, you usually don’t run,” Izzo said. The first game (against BG), we ran pretty good and we didn’t rebound great. The second game, we didn’t run very good at all. Give them credit, they pressured us hard. They really came at us the whole game, actually.”
Izzo’s guards also did a better job on the perimeter, but the Huskies hit three 3-pointers in a row after an intentional foul on MSU’s Divine Ugochukwu for grabbing Alex Karaban’s jersey. That 11-0 run put UConn up 19, though the Spartans scrapped back in the final five minutes.
Oct 28, 2025; Hartford, CT, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) shoots a free throw during the second half against the Connecticut Huskies at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Smith-Imagn Images
Izzo also lamented his team’s poor showing at the free-throw line. The Spartans went just 29-for-44, including 2-for-7 from Coen Carr despite his 11 points, and missed to one-and-one front-ends that cost them two more attempts, Izzo said.
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“Last year, we won a bunch of games at the line, and we’ve been shooting the daylights all summer,” he said. “So I don’t know what happened, but we gotta remedy that. … That wasn’t a 17-, 18-point game; it wasn’t a five- or six-point game. It was probably a 10- to 12-point game.
“And considering how they played and how poorly we shot from the free-throw line. We found some good things in the film, along with some bad things.”
The weekend will be spent digesting the game tape and making the necessary fixes before everything gets real Monday night.
“Our schedule ramps up pretty quick,” Fears said. “So in order, we have to make sure that we’re the best we can be.”
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Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball: Tom Izzo wants more intensity from Spartans
