EAST LANSING – There would be no revenge for Tom Izzo on Dan Hurley.
Not for Michigan State basketball’s exhibition loss a year ago to Connecticut nor its season-ending defeat to the Huskies in the Sweet 16. Even if this one didn’t count.
The sixth-ranked Spartans struggled with No. 5 UConn’s experience and size en route to a 78-70 exhibition loss on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Breslin Center.
Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 23 points and eight assists and played through an ankle injury he suffered early in the second half. The fourth-year junior went 12-for-14 at the free-throw line and made 5 of 12 shots from the field. Freshman Jasiah Jervis scored 11 points with two 3-pointers off the bench, the only other MSU player to reach double figures.
Nik Khamenia had 19 points and Silas Demary Jr. 16 for UConn, which lost in the national title game to Michigan in April after eliminating the Spartans. The Huskies led by as many as 15 points with 5:51 to play, but Izzo’s team could get no closer than seven in the final four minutes.
Here are the starting five thoughts after MSU’s second of three exhibition games:
No. 1: Fears factor
In a flash, Fears gave a glimpse of his past and what Izzo and MSU fans hope is the future return of his explosiveness. And in another moment, the Spartans’ worst fear.
With 6:22 left in the first half, Fears took the ball at the top of the key and zoomed past Demary and Hines downhill into the lane. As 6-6 Colben Landrew stepped up to challenge him, the smaller Fears – 6-2 in your program, 6-foot at the NBA Scouting Combine in May – didn’t stop.
JEREMY FEARS JR. ❕❕❕
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) October 20, 2026
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Fears elevated over Landrew and delivered a ferocious tomahawk dunk as Hines tried to swat at it from behind. It was reminiscent of the driving and leaping ability Fears flashed briefly as a freshman in 2023, before he was shot in the upper left thigh that Christmas and missed the rest of that season while recovering from his bullet wounds.
Early in the second half, though, Fears scared the raucous Breslin crowd into silence. The preseason national and Big Ten player of the year drove down the left side for a scooped-in layup but landed on the Landrew with 17:53 to play. Fears grabbed at his left ankle and lower leg while laying on the court, got back up and hobbled to the bench, checking himself out of the game and immediately going to the training staff.
His stay was brief. Fears received treatment and checked back into the game with 15:44 to play, with Izzo telling him to take it easy.
THE INJURY: Jeremy Fears Jr. returns to UConn vs MSU exhibition after injury scare
No. 2: Rotation review
UConn wanted to match MSU’s toughness early, and it did with 6-8 Khamenia (a Duke transfer), 6-11 Oskar Giltay (a Stanford transfer) and 6-7 Jayden Ross.
Izzo started 7-2 transfer Anton Bonke at center but quickly went with 6-11 Jesse McCulloch to replace him. At the outset of the second half, 7-2 freshman Ethan Taylor replaced Bonke in the starting group, along with Fears, Jordan Scott, Coen Carr and Cam Ward.
Izzo mixed and matched lineups frequently, using 11 players in the first half. Jasiah Jervis was MSU’s first guard off the bench, while Carlos Medlock Jr. spelled Fears intermittently and when he went to the bench. The Spartans cut a 30-22 halftime deficit to two points with Medlock and Taylor in the game together as part of an 8-2 opening salvo.
Carr struggled all game, going scoreless with just three rebounds in 15 first-half minutes. After halftime, the senior swingman had eight points and two more rebounds, finishing 2-for-7 from the field.
Scott maybe showed the most growth from the last time MSU and UConn met in March, when the Huskies sent the Spartans out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16. The sophomore showed physical defense with his improved strength, getting his long arms to jar balls loose and scrapping with UConn for jump ball tie-ups. Scott finished with seven points on 3-of-8 shooting with five rebounds in 30 minutes.
After scoring 20 points in MSU’s win over Incarnate Word to open exhibition play, Jesse McCulloch had just six points and four rebounds in 16 minutes against UConn. Ward got the start after sitting out the exhibition opener and finished with four points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
At least for this matchup, Kur Teng and Kaleb Glenn appeared to be the odd men out of the 11-man group. Teng got an extended run late with the Spartans trying to get back into it but missed all three of his 3-point attempts in his 10 minutes of action. Glenn went scoreless with one rebound in 10 minutes.
Bonke also did not play in the second half after getting just 6 minutes in the first half, finishing with two points and three rebounds.
No. 3: Plenty to work on
Even though it was an exhibition, Izzo won't be happy with the sloppiness early on, along with one of the weaknesses of his team in recent years.
MSU had 10 first-half turnovers, four of them by Fears, but they committed just two in the second half. At the free-throw line, the Spartans showed issues, making 5-of-8 in the opening half and finishing 25-of-34.
But Izzo also will be miffed with how MSU struggled to guard the 3-point arc throughout the game. The Huskies went 10-for-25 and also missed a number of open looks from deep, including multiple late when the game was out of reach.
Meantime, the Spartans equally had major outside shooting issues themselves. They made just 3 of 20 from 3-point range and struggled to get back in it late without that deep shooting.
No. 4: Freshman focus
The 6-4 Jervis had moments where he looked unfazed by the jump in competition, burying a 3-pointer on his first shot after entering the game at the 15:35 mark of the first half. But he also learned a valuable lesson when he tried to drive into the teeth of the Huskies’ back line and got stuffed for a turnover.
Medlock also had moments where the bigger and more experienced Huskies guards neutralized him, and the 5-11, 178-pound point guard finished with two points on 1-for-7 shooting with one assist.
Taylor showed some tenacity in spurts and an ability to score deep in the post. He had five points and two rebounds.
The fourth freshman, forward Julius Avent, did not play.
No. 5: Up next
After opening with a win over Incarnate Word a month before the Nov. 2 regular-season opener against Quinnipiac, the Spartans head to Milwaukee on Sunday to wrap up exhibition play against Shaka Smart and Marquette (1 p.m./streaming on YouTube).
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State misses revenge chance in sloppy exhibition loss to UConn