NCAA Bracket 2011: UCLA, Tyler Honeycutt Squeak By Michigan State

By now, everyone knows that the UCLA Bruins built a seemingly insurmountable 23-point lead over the Michigan State Spartans, only to see it completely evaporate over the last eight minutes of the game.

MSU's Tom Izzo demonstrated why he is an elite coach and why his Spartans have made the NCAA Tournament 14 years in a row.

Imploring his charges to play hard to the bitter end and using every fractional tick of the clock possible, Izzo orchestrated a remarkable comeback that saw his Spartans outscore the Bruins 31-12 down the stretch.

If only the game would have lasted five or 10 seconds longer, MSU would certainly have completed the comeback and gone on to win the game.

Fortunately for UCLA, the clock ran out in the nick of time.

Izzo’s implementation of the full court press with 8:20 remaining in the game was sheer brilliance. UCLA was caught off guard and was forced into eight turnovers by the MSU press. When UCLA could break the press and get the ball into the frontcourt, MSU challenged every pass, dribble and shot.

The Bruins could connect on only one field goal for the remainder of the game—an end-to-end drive and layup by Malcolm Lee.

The rest of the Bruins' points came from the charity stripe. The Spartans sent the Bruins to the line 10 times in the final 77 seconds alone, but the sputtering Bruins managed to hit only two of them.

It really looked like the Bruins were doing everything they could to let the Spartans take the game.

Even in the end, MSU had a chance to win.

Down by two, the Spartans had the ball with four seconds left to play. But MSU star Kalin Lucas was called for traveling as he put up a desperation three-point attempt. UCLA took over with less than a second and inbounded the ball to finally put the Spartans away.

The game started off extremely well for the Bruins.

UCLA scored on their first three possessions and shot out to an early 7-0 lead. In a game that saw both teams go on long scoring streaks, the Spartans would claw back to make the score close, but UCLA would always pull away again and ended the half with an 18-point lead, 42-24.

The second half was streaky as well, but the streaks were amplified and more extreme.

MSU cut the deficit to 10 with 13 minutes to go, but the Bruins followed that with their own run that saw them build their biggest lead of the game, 64-41, with just over eight minutes to play.

That’s when Izzo pulled out his magic bag and left the Bruins dazed and confused.

Probably the biggest reason for UCLA’s early success was the defensive play of Lee, who held Lucas to no points in the first half. In fact, Lucas walked off the court at halftime after missing all eight of his shots while committing two fouls and two turnovers.

UCLA built their lead by playing to their strength.

Reeves Nelson was his usual beastly self on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds to go along with his 12 points.

Joshua Smith played a strong inside game, netting 14 points, three rebounds, two steals and a monster block on his counterpart Adreian Payne.

But it was Tyler Honeycutt who stole the show for the Bruins. He was superlative on both sides of the ball. Honeycutt put up 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out five assists and had two steals with three blocked shots.

Overall, UCLA’s team defense held the Spartans to 31 percent shooting from the floor prior to the late run. But as UCLA withered under the pressure down the stretch, the Spartans started to find their range and made 12 of 19 baskets, including seven out of 11 from beyond the arc.

If every game is a learning experience, then the Bruins were taught a valuable lesson in this matchup. They have been given the opportunity to move on to face the No. 2 ranked Florida Gators in the third round despite showing a propensity to fold under pressure.

Hopefully, Ben Howland has the panacea in his own magic bag that will allow the Bruins to stay mentally sharp and hit their free throws when the game is on the line, because there aren't a lot of other teams left in the tournament that will spot the Bruins 23 points.