On Feb. 4, basketball legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reunited at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles to watch their alma maters, Michigan State and UCLA, play against each other.
The game brought together the college rivals who went on to become one of the greatest duos in the NBA with the L.A. Lakers.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson Reunite
The two were captured in a photograph, beaming, while Johnson, who played for Michigan State, wore a green hoodie to match his team, and Abdul-Jabbar wore UCLA’s blue and gold.
A couple legends in Pauley tonight 🤩
(📸: @UCLAMBB) pic.twitter.com/Kpgw5w2Wvf
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) February 5, 2025
Both Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar are hall of famers. Johnson took Michigan State to the 1979 national championship and later won five NBA titles with the Lakers. Abdul-Jabbar won three straight NCAA titles with UCLA before going on to become Johnson’s teammate in the 1980s and share those five titles. He is still the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Throughout the UCLA-MSU game’s final moments, Johnson, in his Spartans hoodie, stood up nervously and watched with hawk-like eyes. However, the Bruins won 63-61 in a close finish in front of Abdul-Jabbar.
With just seven seconds left, UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. made a last-second shot to give his team the lead. Sky Clark accumulated 14 points in the win, while Tyler Bilodeau sank 13. This was the Bruins’ sixth win in a row, bringing their record to 17-6. Michigan State’s Jaden Atkins had 15 points and had a chance to win the contest with a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but his shot bounced off the rim as time ran out.
The matchup saw UCLA at one point leading by 11 points, only for Michigan State to tie the game three times in the last seven minutes. In the final moments, the Spartans missed the shot, and a traveling violation with 23 seconds left confirmed their loss.
Michigan State, which is the second-best in the Big Ten at grabbing rebounds, pulled down 45 while UCLA only had 27. However, the Spartans’ 16 turnovers canceled out the advantage, given that its opponents only had three. The Bruins got 19 points from those turnovers, while the Spartans got just four.
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Offensively, UCLA made only 35 percent of its shots, and Michigan State made 37.7 percent. But the Bruins still took seven more shots, with six of them coming from the three-point line.
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