EAST LANSING— No. 9 Michigan State men’s basketball suffered its first back-to-back losses of the season during its West Coast trip in Los Angeles.
MSU fell to both of its new California foes, Southern California and UCLA. On Saturday the Spartans fell to the Trojans 70-64 to mark their first Big Ten loss, and then on Tuesday the Bruins upset the Spartans 63-61.
Senior guard Jaden Akins led MSU with 15 points on Tuesday. Akins was followed by junior forward Jaxon Kohler with eight points and redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. and junior center Carson Cooper each put up six points.
The Spartans shot 37.7% from the field, 22.7% from behind the arc and 84.2% from the free throw line at Paulley Pavillion. They also put up 45 rebounds and committed 16 turnovers.
MSU and Oregon have met four times before and split the overall series 2-2. The two teams’ last meeting was at the 2022 Phil Knight Invitational. The Spartans topped the Ducks 74-70 on Nov. 25, 2022.
Scouting Oregon
Oregon is currently on a four-game losing streak. It recently fell to now-No. 24 Michigan, 80-76, on Wednesday afternoon.
The Ducks had four players in double figures against the Wolverines and shot 43.3% from the field, 33.3% from behind the arc and 81.8% from the free throw line in Ann Arbor. They’re averaging 76.5 points per game, 35.7 rebounds per game, 14.7 assists, 11.6 turnovers per game, 7.1 steals per game and 3.4 blocks per game.
Three Oregon players are averaging double-digits in scoring this season. Senior center Nate Bittle is averaging 12.7 points per game, sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad is averaging 12.5 points per game and senior guard TJ Bamba is averaging 10.7 points per game. Three additional players are averaging over seven points per game.
The Ducks are 16-7 on the season and 5-7 in the Big Ten. They are 4-3 when playing away.
MSU and Oregon will head-off on Saturday with tip-off set for noon. Tune into the live radio broadcast featuring Matt Merrifield and Allie Cohen locally on 88.9 FM or at impact89fm.org/listen-live/.
