MSU's March Mastery

The Spartans are the winners of the Midwest region. Michigan State punched a ticket to the Final Four for the second straight season. Tom Izzo’s Spartans’ success in March continued yesterday in St. Louis, where fifth seeded MSU clipped Tennessee 70-69 to earn a Final Four berth. This is the fifth time under Izzo’s tutelage the Spartans have advanced to the Final Four. Last year’s runner-up, Michigan State used a team effort and confident approach in inching out the sixth seeded Volunteers from moving on to their first Final Four.
Durrell Summers continued his torrid scoring for Michigan State. The junior guard with the hot hand finished with 21 points, including four from beyond the arc. MSU shot 76.2% from the charity stripe. Free throw shooting factored dramatically into the contest during the final minutes of the second half. Korie Lucious started at point guard for the injured Big 10 2009 Player of the Year, Kalin Lucas. Luscious clocked 35 minutes for the Spartans, picking up eight points and four assists. Lucious was fouled with 28 seconds left in the game and MSU clinging to a one-point advantage. Lucious missed a free throw, and Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson recovered the rebound. Draymond Green, Izzo’s sophomore forward, promptly sent Hopson to the line with a foul. Hopson made one of two free throws to tie the game at 69 with 11 seconds left in regulation. Lucious grabbed the rebound and passed to Raymar Morgan, who was subsequently fouled with 1.8 second. Morgan’s free throw lifted the Spartans to victory. Morgan connected on five-of-six from the line. He netted 13 points and added 10 rebounds for the 28-8.
The Volunteers were forced to settle for short jumpers in the school’s first ever Elite Eight matchup. Tennessee shot better than 50% and notched seven from downtown, but struggled to find an offensive rhythm against the Spartan defense. Bruce Pearl’s Volunteers were plagued by fouls but still held a two point halftime advantage. The lead faded during a grind-it-out second half. Brian Williams put the Vols within one on a putback with two minutes on the clock. The play was reminiscent of his tip-in go-ahead bucket two nights ago but this time the Volunteers couldn’t hold on for the win. Williams scored ten points and managed nine rebounds. Senior Wayne Chism led Tennesse with 13 points. He was one of four Volunteers to finish in double figures during his final collegiate game. Chism bucketed three 3-pointers. The Spartans led by as many as eight in the second half but Tennessee reloaded to remain in the contest. The game was a back-and-forth affair for most of the final minutes with the injury-plagued but battled-tested Spartans prevailing. It helps that the Spartans institute a tough non-conference schedule into their season. MSU came back from a slim halftime deficit similar to the way they recovered from Northern Iowa’s seven point edge at the break on Friday night. Izzo’s teams are seasoned and poised to pull these tournament games out, and they proved they are Indianpolis worthy yesterday.

Parting Points: Duke downs Baylor to return to the Final Four as the only number one seed. Boy, those Baylor Bears can bat down shots. Too bad they couldn’t banish their foul trouble.

Surprise hire- Fran McCaffery exits Siena for the Big 10. McCaffery replaces Todd Lickliter as the Hawkeyes head coach.

Seton Hall selects Iona’s Kevin Willard as their next basketball head coach.