State News basketball reporters Josh Mansour and Dillon Davis recap MSU’s win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament over Valparaiso.
Editor’s note: The story has been updated with Saturday’s tip off time.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – As much emphasis is put on the rigors of the regular season, there’s no time quite like March Madness. And once a team is there, there are few feelings like living to see another day.
The No. 3-seed Spartans took care of business in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday with a 65-54 victory against Valparaiso at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Senior center Derrick Nix shined on the big stage, leading the Spartans with 23 points and 15 rebounds, while junior guard Keith Appling and freshman guard Gary Harris also scored in double figures.
Nix said the game plan was to work the ball in the paint and try to find scoring opportunities that would wear down the Crusaders during the course of the game.
“You gotta just take your time,” Nix said. “They taught us how to (crab dribble) over here. So now I just crabs and want to hurry up and get it out. (Izzo) just said if I get it out, it’s going to come back in. So don’t try to force shots I don’t practice on in practice.”
Now the Spartans turn their sights to a familiar foe in the Memphis Tigers. Playing immediately after MSU on Thursday, the Tigers held off a scrappy St. Mary’s team, who missed a shot at the buzzer, falling 54-52.
The Spartans last met the Tigers in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and were upended by then-head coach John Calipari and star guard Derrick Rose en route to the national championship game. This season, the Tigers carry a 31-4 record, which earned the team the top spot in Conference USA and a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Scouting the Tigers, MSU head coach Tom Izzo compared the team to the quick and athletic 2011-12 Louisville team that ousted the Spartans from the Big Dance a season ago.
However, Izzo said this time around, the Spartans have a secret weapon: sophomore guard/forward Branden Dawson, who missed the postseason last year after suffering a torn left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the final regular season game against Ohio State.
“He can guard a lot of people, you know, as he gets better — back to normal, moving laterally and that could be a big plus for us,” Izzo said before he knew the matchup for Saturday’s game. “If it’s Memphis, it’s more of an athletic team like Louisville. We really felt we were in trouble in that Louisville game. We didn’t have an athlete to match theirs.
“Branden Dawson’s the athlete that can match most.”
The game brings together a matchup of talented guards, pairing together Appling and Memphis guard Joe Jackson.
Appling said ranks him among the fastest players in the country, even quicker than Michigan guard Trey Burke.
The time of the tip for Saturday’s matchup is 2:45 p.m. on CBS.
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