Michigan State Beats UCLA in Thanksgiving Day College Basketball

Thanksgiving is well known for NFL football, but there are a number of holiday weekend college basketball tournaments going on as well, and they typically have some pretty good nonconference matchups.

Take the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational for example. One of the semi finals featured #11 Michigan State (3-1) vs. #17 UCLA (4-0). Michigan State has nine Final Four appearances, including seven since 1999. The Spartans have two NCAA titles, in 1979 (Magic Johnson was on that team in its memorable championship game with Larry Bird’s Indiana State) and in 2000. UCLA has 18 Final Four appearances, and a record 11 NCAA titles. Ten of those occurred in the 12 year period from 1964-1975. (UCLA did not reach the Final Four in 1966. The Bruins were in the final four in ’74 but lost to eventual winner North Carolina State in a semi final). Those ten champions were coached by the legendary John Wooden. This was the ninth time the two schools had met, with UCLA winning six of the eight.

This one was all Michigan State. The Spartans nearly doubled up the Bruins in the first half, taking a 51-26 lead into the locker room before cruising to an 87-67 win. Cassius Winston led the Spartans with 19 points and seven assists. Michigan State lost its season opener to then #1 Kansas, another highly storied program, and has gone undefeated since then.

The Spartans advanced to the tournament final, and won that over Texas 78-68. This was a little tougher. The Longhorns (5-1) jumped out in front 25-6 had a 44-36 halftime lead but the Spartans held Texas to just 24 points in the second half and Michigan State put it away.

In the consolation game of the tournament, UCLA again was matched with a legendary opponent in North Carolina. The Tar Heels have 20 Final Fours and six NCAA titles. The two schools met for the 1968 NCAA Championship, with the Bruins winning 78-55; the Tar Heels have won eight of 11 contests between the two. The Bruins were leading at halftime in this one 46-41, but the Tar Heels, ranked #7, put together a 53 point second half to win 94-78 and improve to 6-1.