When Butler head coach Brad Stevens and his team returned to campus at 3 a.m. Saturday following their Elite Eight victory over Kansas State, they returned to a crazy scene.
The MSU men’s basketball program’s success has been a family affair, which includes members of MSU head coach Tom Izzo’s family, managers, assistants, former student-athletes and their families.
It has been nine days since junior guard Kalin Lucas’ season ended with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, but it hasn’t gotten any easier for the first-team All-Big Ten selection to cope with the fact he won’t be on the floor with his teammates in the Final Four.
It’s been a week since the MSU women’s basketball team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Kentucky, and although the loss surely still stings the team, the Spartans have a bright future despite losing four important seniors.
The MSU men’s basketball team, like so many others before it, was built on toughness. Its coach is the Magical Man of March — a constantly overachieving workaholic whose accomplishments in this great tournament are unmatched. In the last decade, MSU men’s basketball personifies the NCAA Tournament as much as “One Shining Moment” and scissors cutting through twine.
St. Louis — Junior guard Durrell Summers finished with a game-high 21 points Sunday in No. 5-seed MSU’s 70-69 win over No. 6-seed Tennessee. The turnaround for Summers, the Spartans’ leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament, came after Izzo benched Summers in the Big Ten Tournament for poor defensive effort.
St. Louis — Sophomore guard Korie Lucious has played 93 of 100 possible minutes since halftime of MSU’s second round game against Maryland, when he took over point guard duties from starter and junior guard Kalin Lucas, who ruptured his Achilles’ tendon. In that time, Lucious has recorded 26, nine assists, nine steals and eight turnovers.
For the second straight year, the Spartans are headed to the Final Four. A free throw by senior forward Raymar Morgan with 1.8 seconds remaining gave No. 5-seed MSU the 70-69 victory over No. 6-seed Tennessee in the Midwest Regional final Sunday afternoon in St. Louis.
The rangy No. 6-seed Volunteers could present matchup problems for Spartans, making it important for junior guard Durrell Summers to join his teammates in hitting the glass, MSU head coach Tom Izzo said Saturday. The No. 5-seed MSU men’s basketball team tips off against Tennessee at 2:20 p.m. Sunday.
St. Louis — Welcome to the big stage, Mr. Big Shot. I’m talking, of course, about sophomore guard Korie Lucious, who, for the second consecutive game, hit a key shot late in the game to give the Spartans an NCAA Tournament victory. Last Sunday, it was the buzzer-beater to defeat Maryland. Friday night, it was a floating jumper with 1:31 to play that put the No.
Korie Lucious’ game-winning 3-pointer to beat Maryland, 85-83, Sunday won more than just the game.
The No. 5-seed MSU men’s basketball team, with three players (junior guards Chris Allen and Kalin Lucas and sophomore forward Delvon Roe) suffering leg injuries, are hurting. No. 9-seed Northern Iowa battled its way to an upset of No. 1 overall seed Kansas, an easy pick for a national title winner.
One team came out of its last game with three injured players and a fourth with a chipped tooth, while the other has nine healthy players averaging 11 minutes or more per game. So who’s the favorite?
Kelly Beaton covers Northern Iowa for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. Beaton is in his first season covering the Panthers and on Thursday spoke with The State News about Friday’s game with the Spartans.
Don’t call the No. 9-seed Northern Iowa Panthers an underdog.
This isn’t the demeanor expected from the MSU men’s basketball team’s two freshman centers who have never played this much basketball in their lives.
With time winding down in the MSU men’s basketball team’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against New Mexico State last week, it felt like every Spartan and their next of kin was in dire foul trouble when MSU needed some big rebounds. Enter Draymond Green.
As the No. 5-seed Spartans prepare to play the No. 9-seed Northern Iowa Panthers on Friday night in the Sweet 16, Spartans fans from East Lansing and St. Louis are ready to cheer on their team.
Heading into the Sweet 16, the Spartans hope to overcome injuries. Junior guard Kalin Lucas will be sidelined for four to six months after rupturing his left Achilles tendon. Delvon Roe continues to fight through pain in his right knee. Junior guard Chris Allen did not practice Tuesday, but both Allen and Roe are expected to play.
MSU’s four seniors deserved better than the way their careers ended Monday. The Spartans’ 70-52 loss to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday at Freedom Hall signaled the end for Lauren Aitch, Allyssa DeHaan, Aisha Jefferson and Mandy Piechowski, and the ugly loss was an unfortunate final chapter for four women who gave everything they had to the program for their entire careers. It wasn’t just that the Spartans loss — by seeding, No.