Syracuse, N.Y. — It was a competitive game for much of the first half, but a late scoring drought by MSU could endanger its Final Four dreams.
If there are tiers when ranking the great coaches in college basketball, Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino would be near the top.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- MSU head coach Tom Izzo will square off against a Pitino-led team for the second time this year, but with a Final Four berth at stake, this one will mean a bit more. The Spartans dropped a home game to Minnesota and head coach Richard Pitino in February, and on Sunday at 2:20 p.m., MSU will face Richard’s father and Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame member Rick Pitino. Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals (27-8 overall, 12-6 ACC) have surged in the tournament, despite the dismissal of guard Chris Jones in late February. The Cardinals escaped in their first tournament game with a two point win over UC Irvine.
A year after losing three key pieces of its puzzle, MSU has clawed its way right back to where its season ended last year. The Elite Eight. An improbable yet not infrequent tournament run has been conducted by upperclassmen.
Syracuse, N.Y. — For a while, it looked as though MSU's free throw woes would be their undoing.
Syracuse, N.Y. Oklahoma never trailed over the first twenty minutes, and at halftime, the Sooners lead the Spartans, 31-27. Oklahoma junior guard and Big 12 Player of the Year Buddy Hield leads all scorers with 11 points, and MSU senior guard Travis Trice follows with 10 points.
Head coach Tom Izzo said he didn't have a comment when asked about MSU earning the No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament an hour after falling to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament, but during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, he said the Spartans deserve to be underdogs this season.
Fifteen years later, Mateen Cleaves is still invested in Spartan basketball.
Travis Trice might be this year’s Shabazz Napier. It’s a premature comparison at the moment but if the senior MSU guard continues to play the way he has, his legacy will mirror that of the Connecticut Huskie who torched the Spartans in the Elite Eight. Tell me that this doesn’t sound familiar: A skinny, six-foot guard dominates NCAA tournament games for stretches of time and knocks down NBA-range threes to lead his No.
As a head coach, Mark Dantonio isn't afraid to give praise to players or teams when credit is due.
On Sunday against Virginia, head coach Tom Izzo had to game plan for Virginia's slow, methodical offense eats up much of the shot clock. On Friday against Oklahoma, Izzo expects the exact opposite. "Run, run, run, run, run, man," Izzo said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. "I think we could have a test run for the 20?second shot clock in this game.
Travis Trice's big day started well before the opening tip. It started with a message from former MSU forward Draymond Green, who texted Trice the morning of the game reminding him of the goal at stake. "Draymond Green actually this morning said don't let this be your last game and I texted him back and said, I won't," Trice said.
When Mateen Cleaves and Tom Izzo were cutting down the nets after MSU basketball's last national championship in 2000 they were doing it in Reebok apparel. Times have changed for MSU athletics, as they now wear the Nike swoosh on their uniforms.
On to Syracuse. It wasn't sexy.
It was the Travis Trice show to begin the first half. The senior guard was absolutely electric to start the game, scoring 13 consecutive points on an array of fast break layups and 3-point bombs early in the half to help give MSU the advantage at halftime, 23-18.
MSU (24-11 overall) doesn’t have to look far to see similarities between Wisconsin and Virginia (30-3 overall), their opponent tomorrow in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
When head coach Tom Izzo first realized MSU would potentially play No. 2 seed Virginia in the second round, he first thought to himself, "why?" The Spartans barely prevailed against the top-seeded Cavaliers in last year's Sweet 16 round, and will now have to crack one of the top defenses in the nation for a second year in a row.
By Troy Jefferson Tjefferson@statenews.com Branden Dawson and Gavin Schilling’s early foul trouble could’ve signaled doom for MSU but thanks to the bench, it wasn’t the case.
Charlotte, North Carolina — MSU missed five of their first six shots and trailed Georgia 9-3 five minutes into the game.