Well, he did it.

The sophomore guard filled in for two-time first-team All-Big Ten junior guard Kalin Lucas, who ruptured the Achilles’ tendon in his left foot last weekend.

And judging by the results, Lucious did it well. As he stood on a podium — wearing a regional champions T-shirt, tears in his eyes and the crowd chanting his name — it seemed the MSU community would agree.
“It’s a dream come true to be in this kind of position to run a team and lead them to a Final Four,” Lucious said.

Lucas’ injury came at about two minutes in the first half of the Spartans’ second-round win against Maryland. In the 100 minutes of game time following that halftime — which might have been the late turning point of this resilient team’s season — Lucious played 93 minutes and had 26 points, nine assists and nine steals. He had eight turnovers in the span.

Going into the regional semifinals against Northern Iowa and the regional championship game against Tennessee, Lucious was averaging 22 minutes per game. This weekend, he averaged 37 minutes per game.
But, most importantly, he helped lead the Spartans to their second straight Final Four.

“I’ve just got to give credit to my teammates and my coaching staff for having the confidence in me to be able to go out and play my game to the best of my ability,” Lucious said.

Lucious and MSU head coach Tom Izzo admitted Lucious had tired legs at the end Sunday. He missed the front end of a critical one-and-one free throw opportunity with 28.9 seconds to go and the Spartans leading 69-68.

“When Korie got to the huddle, his eyes were welled up,” Izzo said.

“He was just beside himself. I think it was just fatigue — he was down. Every player and every coach — even me — said, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it back.’”

His game-winning shot against Maryland will go down in MSU lore, but his biggest basket from St. Louis came with 12:24 to go in Sunday’s game.

After an errant shot attempt, there was a scramble after the rebound. Senior forward Raymar Morgan picked it up and found Lucious outside, where Lucious connected to give MSU a 56-51 lead.

Such a play was indicative of Lucious’ ability to take advantage of opportunities presented to him in the last week.

“He grew up,” former MSU guard and current graduate assistant Travis Walton said. “But when you hit a big shot like that, and you know everything is on your shoulders like that, you have to grow up. There’s no more ‘Make a turnover, and drop your head.’ You have to move forward. Our guys did a great job of supporting him and pushing him.

“He led us back to a Final Four.”