The Bruins’ trip to the Great Lake State probably could not have ended any worse. After falling by 30 points to then-No. 2 Michigan on Saturday, No. 15 Michigan State (21-5, 11-4 Big Ten) trounced UCLA men’s basketball (17-9, 9-6) 82-59 Tuesday night at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. After the two losses, in which the Bruins accumulated a 53-point deficit, UCLA moves to 2-7 in Quad One games. Daily Bruin Sports editor Connor Dullinger gives his five main takeaways from the Bruins’ 23-point defeat to the Spartans.

This was never a game.

The Bruins looked like they were never in the game.

UCLA’s largest lead came at 4-0 with not even 90 seconds into the game. The squad’s last lead came at 9-7 with 15:43 remaining in the first frame. And the Bruins trailed by double-digits for more than 30 minutes of the 40-minute contest.

The Spartans dominated the Bruins in every facet of the game and took hope out of the Bruins’ grasp before they even had time to settle in.

UCLA’s 30-point blowout defeat to Michigan seemed like the worst the former could play, but at least the Bruins trailed by just two points at intermission.

Tuesday night was never a game to begin with.

The Spartans led by as much as 24 with 3:53 remaining in the first half, with the Bruins notching just 16 points across as many minutes of game action.

And Michigan State built its largest lead at 31 with 7:20 remaining in the affair.

Tuesday not only marked a blowout.

It was a slaughter.

Offense firing on zero cylinders.

Tuesday may have signaled the Bruins’ worst offensive outing of the season.

The Bruins shot 36.8% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc. The majority of their shooting struggles came in the first half, when they mustered just 23 points on 32.1% shooting from the field and 23.1% from beyond the arc.

UCLA could not buy a shot.

The squad boasted just two double-digit scorers – senior forward Tyler Bilodeau, who posted a productive 22 points on 8-for-16 shooting from the field, and senior guard Skyy Clark, who logged 12 points on 5-for-11 from the field.

Outside of Clark and Bilodeau, sophomore guard Trent Perry made just two shots on seven attempts, scoring nine points – his lowest point total and most inefficient performance since Jan. 17 in a loss against Ohio State.

The Bruins bench – comprised of redshirt freshman guard Eric Freeny, redshirt sophomore guard/forward Brandon Williams, fifth-year guard Jamar Brown and redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II – combined for 1-for-9 shooting from the field for just five points.

And junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. – the Bruins’ fifth leading scorer, averaging 10.7 points per game – posted three points on just two shot attempts. Dailey posted three points in back-to-back games against the Wolverines and the Spartans, taking just seven shots across the two contests.

Before the Michigan trip, Dailey scored double-digit points in 12 of the 13 previous games. While Dailey has struggled from beyond the arc this season – falling to 27.3% after his 37.8% the year prior – the junior is going to have to contribute significantly to the scoring department and maintain his shooting volume, regardless of misses, if the Bruins want to be competitive.

And while the Spartans boast the sixth-best defensive efficiency, the Bruins failed to make wide-open shots they otherwise have made so far this season.

If the Bruins want to dance in March, they need to figure out their offensive struggles immediately.

Hot-handed Spartans.

While UCLA’s offense flatlined, Michigan State revived itself Tuesday night.

The Spartans shot 52.7% from the field and 51.9% from beyond the arc, just four days after shooting 36.4% and 29.6%, respectively, in their blowout loss to the Badgers on Friday.

Guard Jeremy Fears Jr. knocked down four of his eight 3-point attempts despite entering the matchup shooting below 30% from beyond the arc. Forward Jordan Scott – who averaged 5.6 points per game before Tuesday night – hit four of his five shots, including all three of his long-range attempts, totaling 11 points.

And center Carson Cooper and forward Coen Carr each eclipsed their point averages, scoring 12 and 16, respectively, doing so on 100% and 63.6% clips from the field, respectively.

For every shot that the Bruins missed, the Spartans converted.

And it seemed that UCLA’s offensive struggles seeped into its defensive efforts, allowing Michigan State to take high-percentage looks against minimal pressure.

While the Bruins may have been unlucky with Fears and Scott’s production, shooting in basketball is a game of averages, as coach Mick Cronin always says, and the Bruins need to adapt when the other team is defying the scouting report.

Spiraling.

As if UCLA’s abysmal performance was not enough, Cronin compounded the 23-point blowout loss with his antics at the end of the game and in the postgame interview.

Cronin ejected Jamerson for a hard foul – deemed a flagrant one by the referees – on Cooper, who was attempting a transition dunk while the Bruins trailed by 27 in the dying embers of Tuesday’s contest.

While Jamerson had reached five fouls and was out of the contest, fouled-out players normally sit on the end of the bench. It is almost unheard of for a coach to throw his own player out of the game and send him to the locker room, like Cronin did Tuesday.

Cronin’s actions with Jamerson received viral nationwide attention, surprising Michigan State coach Tom Izzo – the longest tenured active Big Ten coach, coaching for 31 straight seasons in East Lansing – who said he had never seen anything like that before.

After losing by 23 points and ejecting his own player, Cronin then got in a verbal disagreement with a reporter post-game, when the Bruin head honcho gave the reporter “kudos for the worst question I have ever heard,” after the journalist asked for Cronin’s thoughts on Spartan fans booing former Michigan State and UCLA forward/center Xavier Booker.

Cronin then accused the reporter of raising his voice at him, telling him that “everyone heard it” and that “it was on live video” after the reporter denied that he had raised his voice.

Tuesday’s loss was embarrassing enough for UCLA without Cronin rubbing salt in the wound.

What now?

UCLA is officially 2-7 in Quad One games.

The Bruins have five regular-season games remaining – two against crosstown rival USC, a Saturday affair against No. 10 Illinois, an away contest against Minnesota and a senior night match against No. 9 Nebraska.

UCLA is on the bubble right now and could miss the tournament if the team flatlines for the remainder of the season and fails to post any success in the Big Ten tournament.

The Bruins entered the preseason AP Poll ranked as the No. 12 team in the nation, and have yet to be ranked since the Dec. 8 iteration of the rankings had the Bruins at the final No. 25 spot.

There is no doubt that this season has been a disappointment for the UCLA squad that was considered by some to be an Elite Eight team or Final Four darkhorse before the season started.

And the cherry on top would be the Bruins missing the NCAA Tournament altogether.

UCLA needs to finish the season strong to give the squad the best chance come time for selection for the Big Dance.