‘Monster’ Tarris Reed Jr. has Michigan State basketball prepping

EAST LANSING – To say Tarris Reed Jr. has the full attention of Michigan State basketball would be an understatement.

Because there is no overstating just how seismic a statline of 31 points and 27 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game is. Regardless of who it came against.

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“I don’t care who you are, that’s impressive for anybody,” forward Jaxon Kohler said after the Spartans’ practice Monday, March 23. “So a lot of respect to him.”

But it isn’t just because the Connecticut star center put up big numbers. It’s also because Reed didn’t play when MSU lost to the Huskies in an Oct. 28 exhibition game in Hartford, Connecticut. And even though Kohler and Carson Cooper played against the UConn star four times while he was at Michigan, Reed is a markedly different player in his final season than he was two years ago.

Mar 22, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; UConn Huskies forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) reacts against the UCLA Bruins in the first half during a second round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

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And five months later, he makes the Huskies a much different challenge in the Sweet 16 than the one the Spartans faced when the game didn’t count.

“There’s only so much that you can look at that film and say what we did great or what we couldn’t do. … So it’s gonna be a new game plan,” Cooper said Monday of how much the 6-foot-11, 265-pound Reed alters the dynamic for the East region semifinal rematch with UConn. “A lot of stuff we did then, we can figure out what we didn’t do great and what we can’t do the next time we play them.”

No. 3 seed MSU (27-7) faces No. 2 seed Connecticut (31-5) at 9:45 p.m. Friday at Capital One Arena in Washington. The winner will advance to the Elite Eight. And for the loser – either Reed or Kohler and Cooper – their college career will come to…

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Publish date : 2026-03-24 09:09:00

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