Phoenix — Draymond Green ended his career accomplishing one of his many goals — a career that ended three games sooner than he wished in a 57-44 Sweet 16 loss to Louisville.
The senior forward surpassed Greg Kelser as the MSU all-time leading rebounder, but in a season he hoped to go to the Final Four, it didn’t matter.
The Spartans started off strong against the Cardinals’ zone with a three from senior guard Austin Thornton, but shot just 27 percent in the first half.
MSU played smothering defense against Louisville, limiting them to just 27 percent shooting, but 47 percent from 3-point range, in the opening half.
Midway through the half, the Cardinals found that streak of heat, nailing seven 3-pointers in the half.
“The whole game came down to making those threes,” head coach Tom Izzo said. “And a couple were made by people who never make threes.”
MSU also struggled on the boards, giving up eight offensive rebounds leading to second chances for the Cardinals.
Aside from the threes, MSU played strong defense to stay in the games, including a couple of steals leading to buckets to keep the game close.
With 2:28 left in the half on a break off a rebound, senior forward Draymond Green hit a three as a trailer, bringing the Spartans to within two.
Several stale possessions later, Louisville guard Jared Swopshire hit a three with four seconds left to give the Cardinals a 23-18 lead at the half.
Izzo said he had a bad feeling after the first half and the barrage of threes from Louisville.
“I think this team had a heck of a run, and we ran out of gas,” Izzo said he realized at the break. “We ran out of gas a little bit emotionally, mentally and physically. And Louisville had the gas and deserved to win.”
Green found sophomore guard Keith Appling who nailed a three to open the second half scoring.
The Louisville press began to frustrate the Spartans as the Cardinals extended the lead to 35-25 with 12:57 left in the game.
“We didn’t execute how we wanted to against that zone,” Izzo said. “Our guards just did not play as well as they needed to play.”
Just when the game seemed out of control, the Spartans brought the game to 35-31. But following a Louisville timeout, the Cardinals went on a run to extend the lead to 42-31 and put the game away for good.
And a lot of those runs were caused because of the stout Cardinal defense.
“They played their style of defense,” Green said.
“We thought we were prepared for it. At the end of the day, players play, and we didn’t execute well.”
Green grabbed his 13th rebound with 4:34 left in the game — his 1,093rd of his career. He finished the game with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Wood was the only other Spartan in double figures, scoring 14 points.
Wood nailed a wide open three to bring the score to within seven with 2:57 left, but just as many of the other possessions, the Cardinals struck back.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
The Spartans fouled in desperation late, but Louisville continued to pull away.
Izzo said the loss is a combination of several factors.
“This is one of those games when I don’t think we have one guy play really well,” he said. “And we don’t do as good a job as coaches. Couldn’t even blame one guy, collectively we just couldn’t get it done.”
Despite ending a season on a sour note, the loss puts a cap to a surprisingly successful season.
“It’s tough. It’s hard to feel good, hard to feel bad,” Thornton said.
“We had a special year. We did some things that haven’t been done in a long time. Our ultimate goal was to make it to the Final Four, and we weren’t able to accomplish that. Bittersweet ending.”
