How To Watch, Game Preview and Game Thread: UCLA Bruins at #15 Michigan State Spartans
The Bruins visit the Spartans for just the third time ever, and the first time since 2004.
Tonight, the UCLA men’s basketball team will conclude their Michigan road trip when they face the #15 Michigan State Spartans. Tip-off is set for 5:30 pm PT and the game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (where available) and streamed on Peacock.
The Spartans, of course, are led by legendary head coach Tom Izzo. Izzo is in his 31st season as a head coach, all of them with Michigan State. During that time, he’s compiled a 757-307 record, giving him a career winning percentage of .711.
Tonight’s game also marks a homecoming for UCLA’s Xavier Booker. The junior from Indianapolis played his first two college seasons for the Spartans before transferring to UCLA this season. Hopefully, the return to East Lansing sparks Booker to lead the Bruins to victory tonight.
Michigan State Spartans’ Starting Five
The Spartans are led by sophomore Jeremy Fears, Jr., who is averaging 15.1 ppg. He also leads Michigan State in assists with 231. He comes into tonight’s game just three assists short of having more assists than every other player on the team combined. Yes, you read that right. Fears has 231 assists and the rest of the team has compiled 233 assists. He also leads MSU in steals with 32. If Fears has a weak spot, it’s his three-point shot. He’s only shooting 25.3% from beyond the arc.
Considering Fears’ stats, the Spartans haven’t needed to rely on their other starting guard to do much. Until he hurt his foot against Minnesota a few weeks ago, Divine Ugochukwu had been the other starting guard. With him out for the remainder of the season, it looks like that will now be freshman Jordan Scott. Scott is averaging 5.6 ppg, which is a half a point better per game than Ugochukwu. Even though he averages more points per game than Ugochukwu, Scott’s 33.8% three-point percentage is lower than Ugochukwu’s 44.2%. At the same time, because Scott has tried almost twice as many threes, he’s actually made 15 more threes than Ugochhukwu. Will that matter tonight? We’ll see.
The Spartans two starting forwards actually put a few more points on the board, combined, than the guards do. Senior Jaxon Kohler is averaging 12.5 ppg, and he has made more threes than anyone else on the team. He is also Michigan State’s best rebounder with an average of 9.3 rpg. He’s third on the team in blocks with 21, just one behind Coen Carr. Speaking of Carr, the junior is averaging 11.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg.
The final starter will probably be Carson Cooper. Cooper is averaging 9.9 ppg and 7.2 rpg. Unsurprisingly, the 6’10” center leads the Spartans in blocks with 25.
While Izzo will likely use a ten-man rotation tonight, there are really just two guys who will make a significant contribution off the bench. The first is sophomore guard Kur Teng. Teng is averaging 16 minutes per game and scoring an average of 7.0 ppg. He’s a decent threat from outside where he is shooting 35.0% from beyond the arc.
The other guy likely to make a significant contribution off the bench is freshman forward Cameron Ward. He’s been playing an average of 15 minutes per game and scoring an average of 5.1 ppg. His 4.4 rpg ranks fourth behind the two starting forwards and Cooper. All the other reserves are averaging 4.0 ppg or less.
Analysis
The Bruins are looking to avoid being swept on the road tonight. After Saturday’s 30-point loss to the Wolverines, UCLA could really use a win tonight to bounce back from that bad loss.
Could that happen? Sure. I just wouldn’t count on it.
Izzo always has his squad ready to play the Bruins. While he’s gone 3-5 against UCLA in his career, one of those wins came in the only other time the Spartans played the Bruins in East Lansing.
If the Bruins want to win tonight, they are going to have to play a lot better than they did on Saturday against Michigan. At this point in the season, I’d have to put give them a 40-45% chance tonight, and that may be generous.
Watch and Listen to the Game With TMB
Today’s game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (where available) and streamed on PeacockTV.com with John Fanta and Jess Settles on the call. Of course, you can opt to listen to Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray on the radio or streamed on uclabruins.com instead. To watch or listen online, just right-click on the links so that you can open up another tab and have it going while you chat in the comments below.
This is your UCLA men’s basketball vs. #15 Michigan State Spartans game thread. Here’s how to watch, listen and stream today’s game:
UCLA Men’s Basketball (17-8, 9-5)
Opponent: #15 Michigan State Spartans (20-5, 10-4)
Series Record: UCLA leads, 8-4
When: 5:30 pm PT, Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI
TV: NBC Sports Network (where available) with John Fanta and Jess Settles
Live Stream: PeacockTV.com and the Peacock app
Radio/Audio
Local Radio: KABC AM 790 with Josh Lewin and Tracy Murray
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM Ch. 392 (UCLA Call)
Online: uclabruins.com
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes:
UCLA
Go Bruins!!!
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Dent is miserable so far. He can’t even run a fast break properly.
Frankly embarrassing basketball that should cause some real questions to be asked about the program.
I've been focused on Eric Dailey the past few possessions and he's such a microcosm of this team's failures. He's a pure front-runner and if things aren't going his way, his effort level drops considerably and he just continues making mistakes. The last few Michigan State possessions led to easy baskets because he made a bad rotation. He really shouldn't be starting at this point, and I'd even go so far as to say that UCLA should not look to bring him back next year.