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Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 76-73 loss at Minnesota

Published

2 months ago

February 4, 2026

Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State basketball’s 76-73 loss at Minnesota

1. MSU nearly got away with a regrettable performance for most of the night at Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — If only the Spartans had played the first 38 minutes with the tenacity and purpose they played the last two. There’s a lesson in there. One Michigan State’s basketball team probably shouldn’t have had to learn.

For most of Wednesday night, MSU experienced the other side of a feel-good home game in a 76-73 defeat. And the Spartans didn’t have the goods most of the night to prevent it.

Minnesota, which entered the game shooting less than 33% from beyond the arc, made 10 of 21 3s — which felt like 19 of 21. And the Gophers, who had been collapsing late in games, built enough of a margin — 67-51 with four minutes left and still 69-60 before a Jordan Scott 3 with 59 seconds left — to hang on for the biggest win at The Barn in a long time.

The Gophers might have held on by the skin of their teeth, but the students rushing the court and the elation by Minnesota’s players explained how big this was. And for MSU, it was the first bad loss of the season. Not an unexplainable defeat or an entirely unexpected one. But one a lot of other teams that are near the top of the Big Ten standings and pushing for top seeds in the NCAA tournament won’t have.

At halftime, MSU’s core four — Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper — had a combined four points on 2-for-14 shooting. MSU was in a funk most of the night and didn’t have answers on either end.

If college basketball games were 41 minutes instead of 40, the Spartans might have gotten away with it. Instead, they lost their second straight and lost one that really hurts their chances of staying in the Big Ten title race. They’ve got to get their mojo back from the start Saturday against Illinois.

2. Jordan Scott’s starting debut shows why he’s starting

MSU doesn’t want Jordan Scott to be its leading scorer yet, I don’t think. Not unless he becomes a 15-point-per-game guy every night. But he wasn’t the reason the Spartans lost Wednesday night, even if his performance in his first career start had some ups and downs. He got outmuscled and beaten defensively a few times on the block and turned it over twice. Teams are gong to attack him physically, if they have the personnel on the wing to do it. He’s got to be ready for that and his teammates have to be ready to help.

But Scott also made some shots — and did so on a night not a lot of other guys were making them and when none of Spartans’ core guys were making much. He hit a step-in jumper on MSU’s first possession and three 3s — one a huge shot from the left side to pull MSU to within 38-30, before he nearly came up with a steal seconds later, diving out of bounds, and another with a minute left as MSU tried to make a furious comeback. The 3 he missed would a been a big one, too. He finished with 15 points, on 5-for-8 shooting, with a couple rebounds, an assist and two steals. He was 2-for-4 from the free-throw line. He’s got to get better there. MSU’s problem was that Scott’s points were a team-high most of the night, until a flurry by Coen Carr in the final few minutes.

This was a forgettable night in a lot of ways for the Spartans. But Scott gave what MSU should need from him offensively. I don’t think he’s ready yet to do more.

A good first night off the bench for Ugochukwu. Losing him hurt.

This looked like an ideal first night back coming off the bench for Divine Ugochucku. Then, with about 7 minutes until halftime, Ugochukwu suffered some sort of foot or leg injury, subbing himself after a defensive possession.

It was a blow for MSU for a couple reasons. One, he’s the backup point guard again, and has been more often of late, even when he was still the starting shooting guard. Secondly, he was playing really well Wednesday, making a difference on both ends during the eight minutes he was on the court.

Not everybody responds well to moving to the bench after spending a good chunk of the season in the starting lineup. Ugochukwu played with an energy as if he was trying to make a point, that he’s still a factor. And he was.

I also thought the coaching staff handled it well early. These guys aren’t robots. You want to make sure a guy like Ugochukwu understands quickly that he still has value. Tom Izzo used a couple clunky possessions out of the gate as a reason to pull Jeremy Fears aside for a minute. Enter Ugochukwu, who produced some needed offense attacking the rim, his second such scoring drive with MSU trailing 12-3. He stayed in the game when Fears returned and saved a turnover soon after and had a couple of rebounds, after which he pushed the ball up the court. He was good.

Then it was done suddenly. He went to the locker room for a while, before returning to the bench in the second half, but didn’t play again. MSU needs him. We’ve seen in a few times this season. He’s not one of the four most important players on the Spartans. Probably not even fifth. But he’s not far behind. Not having him for any length of time would leave a mark.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @Graham_Couch.

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Minnesota Wild Recalls Goaltender Cal Petersen From Iowa | Minnesota Wild

Published

9 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Minnesota Wild Recalls Goaltender Cal Petersen From Iowa | Minnesota Wild

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has recalled goaltender Cal Petersen from the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Petersen, 31 (10/19/94), is 13-16-2 with a 2.73 goal-against average (GAA), a .896 save percentage (SV%) and four shutouts in 33 games with Iowa this season. He ranks T-3rd in the AHL in shutouts. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound native of Waterloo, Iowa, owns a 105-114-21 record with a 3.07 GAA, a .901 SV% and 15 shutouts in 248 career AHL games in parts of seven seasons with the Ontario Reign (2017-23), Lehigh Valley (2023-25) and Iowa (2025-26), earning AHL All-Star game selections in 2017-18 and 2019-20. In 15 career Calder Cup Playoff games, he is 5-10 with a 2.94 GAA, a .884 SV% and one shutout. He has also recorded a 46-44-10 record with a 2.96 GAA, a .903 SV% and four shutouts in parts of six NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings (2018-23) and Philadelphia Flyers (2023-24).

Petersen has represented the United States at three IIHF World Championships (2017, 2021, 2023), notably posting a 5-2-0 record with two shutouts and a tournament-leading 1.29 GAA and .953 SV% in 2021 when he was named the tournament’s Best Goaltender and Team USA earned a bronze medal. He played three seasons (2014-17) at the University of Notre Dame and posted a 55-39-15 record with a 2.30 GAA, a .924 SV% and 11 shutouts in 110 games. Petersen was named to the Hockey East First All-Star Team as a junior in 2016-17 and to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team in 2014-15.

He was originally selected in the fifth round (No. 129 overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres. Petersen signed a one-year contract with Minnesota on July 2, 2025, and wears sweater No. 40 with the Wild.

Minnesota plays at the Dallas Stars on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Game 1 of its First Round Stanley Cup Playoff series on FanDuel Sports Network, ESPN and KFAN FM 100.3.

Single-game tickets for the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Grand Casino Arena are on sale now at wild.com and www.ticketmaster.com. For more information and updates, please visit wild.com/playoffs.

The Minnesota Wild will host a Playoff Watch Party at Grand Casino Arena on Saturday for Game One of the First Round. This event is free and open to the public – a valid ticket is required for entry. Gate 1 will open at 4 p.m. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a complimentary Wild LED rally towel. The Hockey Lodge and select concessions will be open.

Ticket availability for all 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff games at Grand Casino Arena is expected to be limited due to demand and priority access given to Minnesota Wild Season Ticket Members. The best way to secure 2026 Stanley Cup Playoff tickets is to become part of the Season Ticket Member Community. For more information visit tickets.wild.com. Fans are also encouraged to join our Ticket Alert/Text notification list at wild.com/stayconnected, designed to help fans get last-minute tickets to Wild home games that have limited availability.

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Federal agents raid 2 Twin Cities stores in SNAP fraud probe

Published

21 hours ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Federal agents raid 2 Twin Cities stores in SNAP fraud probe

Federal agents say they executed criminal search warrants at two Twin Cities stores on Thursday as part of an investigation into $2.1 million of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fraud.

Eighteen other stores were part of the investigation and are suspected of violating the SNAP program; they were issued administrative charging letters, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The probe — called “Operation Cold SNAP” — started in February. The USDA says that as part of the schemes, retailers would exchange taxpayer-funded SNAP benefits for cash or other items.

“They bring the card into the store and instead of buying an eligible food item, which is what SNAP is for, they exchange the benefits of that card for cash, for money. And then the retailer will take that money on the card, spend it,” USDA Inspector General John Walk said.

In the past, the USDA has said the cardholder usually winds up with less cash than the card is worth, benefitting the business.

Walk says fraudulent SNAP retailers steal from victims, including children that rely on the funds.

“If the responsible adult, whether it be parent or guardian are trafficking the funds, it’s actually that child that’s going to suffer from it, because the food benefits will never reach that child,” Walk said.

Data from the federal government shows about $1.2 billion in SNAP benefits were trafficked between 2015 and 2017 — about 1.5% of the total cost of the program, which is around $100 billion. However, Walk said on Thursday that reports show improper payments could be as high as 10%.

The USDA did not share what the cash is being used for in these cases, but said in past investigations, people have trafficked benefits for cash, guns and drugs.

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Storylines | What Portland’s Win Over LAFC Means for Minnesota | Minnesota United FC

Published

1 day ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

Storylines | What Portland’s Win Over LAFC Means for Minnesota | Minnesota United FC

When it comes to finding a storyline to pick up on in Portland, there’s no two ways about it. Matchday 7 in the City of Roses saw the Timbers become the first team all season to score on LAFC. Nobody really expected the first team to breach LAFC’s impenetrable defense to be a floundering Timbers side sitting below the play-in line, but that 2-1 scoreline doesn’t lie. Or does it?

Setting the Scene

First, some context. If you haven’t been religiously following the whole of the Western Conference for some bizarre reason, you might not know that after winning their first match of the season against the Columbus Crew (who have six points in seven games), Portland didn’t win another game until last weekend.

Meanwhile, LAFC have started the 2026 season on an absolute tear. The attacking unit of Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min, with some David Martínez and Nathan Ordaz sprinkled in, is an absolute beast, and the squad boasts a goal differential of +13. Their season-starting shutout streak of 572 minutes broke the league record.

How it Happened

So how did the underdogs break LAFC’s streak? No matter how you slice it, it’s a very impressive result, but when you look at the lineup, a lot of things start to explain themselves. With the Black and Gold prioritizing Leg 2 of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarter-final against Cruz Azul, Head Coach Marc Dos Santos opted to rotate almost the entire team to give the starters a well-deserved rest. Bouanga and defender Nkosi Tafari were the only men on the XI to carry over from the squad’s midweek fixture, a 3-0 home win against Cruz Azul in Leg 1.

Squad rotation had backup keeper Thomas Hasal starting out in net, and he was replaced by Cabral Carter on a concussion substitution before any of the scoring took place. Now, something to note here is that even though starting keeper Hugo Lloris has the most clean sheets in the league, he’s not even in the top 10 for saves. LAFC’s usual back line is so good that those shots don’t typically get all the way to the Frenchman. With only one of those defensive staples starting on Saturday, it’s not a huge surprise that the net was breached a couple of times.

This was a case of intense squad rotation, and the visitors suffered for it.

A Turning Tide for the Timbers

Don’t worry, any rogue Timbers fans who have found their way to our glorious website — I’m not done yet. A win is a win, and it’s not as if Portland didn’t do any heavy lifting of their own. They needed these three points, and if they continue to convert like they did over the weekend, this might mark a bit of a tipping point that stems the tide on what has otherwise been a lackluster start to the season.

Phil Neville has rolled out a 4-3-3 every single match this season, and though the starting XI hasn’t been identical game-to-game, the consistency of the roles and a handful of heavy hitters isn’t something to be brushed under the rug. Kristoffer Velde has been the star of the season, leading the charge with three goals. He’s the only Timber to have logged more than one, but having eight other goal-scorers on the roster points to a healthy amount of range. Kevin Kelsey has been a consistent impact sub and secured the game-winner against LAFC. Finn Surman is a back line regular who’s logged 30 clearances in seven games.

Portland is 11th in the West right now, with seven points in as many matches. Regardless of the result this weekend, they won’t be able to climb above the playoff line, but it could happen over the next few weeks if they’re consistent. It’s early enough in the season that the table is still very much in flux. If one loss knocked LAFC from the top like that, anything could happen.

While I have my doubts as to whether this Timbers squad could have beaten a full-strength LAFC prioritizing their regular-season play, there’s still plenty to be admired on their recent performance. Portland will be bringing a lot of momentum into this match, and Minnesota is going to need to be ready to lock down a motivated attack and exploit any hole they can find in the back. It’s always an exciting match when the Timbers come to town, and this one won’t be any exception.

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