A pair high-profile programs both ranked meeting up for an exhibition finale.

What could have been an entertaining preseason matchup was instead a foul-plagued and ugly 40 minutes of basketball.

No. 4 UConn led wire-to-wire and fought off a late push for a 76-69 win against No. 22 Michigan State on Tuesday night at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. The teams combined for 40 made field goals and 56 fouls in a forgettable performance with both moving on to start the regular season.

The Spartans were disjointed offensively from the start and spent most of the game trailing by double digits. Jeremy Fears had 14 points – 10 from the free throw line – and six assists to go with a pair of double-doubles from the bigs in Carson Cooper (12 points, 10 rebounds) and Jaxon Kohler (10 and 12).

Michiga

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