It is March Madness, but Tuesday night at Breslin Center was much more than an upset win for the MSU women’s basketball team.
It had to be perfect. To beat No. 1-seed Duke, the No. 9-seed MSU women’s basketball team had to limit turnovers, storm the glass and play staunch defense.
They said it would take everything they had. On Monday, Aisha Jefferson said no team shows up in March Madness with more hustle than an opponent — it would come down to mental focus.
This late in March, no team is fully reliant on one or two players. Yet while Kansas has a lot of young, skilled players on its roster, there is no question that guard Sherron Collins (18.9 points per game) and center Cole Aldrich (14.8 ppg) make the team work.
It didn’t take much for MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo to put Kansas’ midseason improvement into perspective for his team. In fact, all it took were two words: North Carolina.
There was an eerily familiar feel to it all. The name that blared over the Breslin Center public address system was as familiar as the woman who paced the sidelines with meditative determination and focus. But this time, there was no green blouse under the dark suit and the team backing her was wearing an unfamiliar color — blue.
The MSU women’s basketball team (21-10) will take on Duke (27-5) at 7:16 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center in a battle between a No. 9 and No. 1 seed.
Facing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament already is difficult enough, but the MSU women’s basketball team is facing another obstacle — the team it will play, Duke, has a coaching staff that knows the ins and outs of most of the roster.
The first 500 students to attend Tuesday’s second round women’s basketball NCAA Tournament game at Breslin Center will get in free with a valid college ID, the MSU athletics department announced Monday.
With nine minutes left and the season hanging in the balance, the MSU men’s basketball could have run its offense through a number of players. There was sophomore guard Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten Player of the Year who has been MSU’s Mr. Clutch throughout the season.
For once, Travis Walton was the offensive star on the MSU men’s basketball team. That meant it was someone else’s turn to be the unheralded defensive star.
Before his team suited up to take on Southern Cal, Marquise Gray called teammate Durrell Summers over for a little chat. “I told him we can kind of lean on each other,” said Gray, a senior forward. “Everybody has their struggles, so I just told him to go over there and play.”
Sherron Collins scored a game-high 25 points and Cole Aldrich collected a triple-double, leading Kansas to a 60-43 victory over Dayton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With the win, No. 3 seed Kansas advances to the Sweet 16, where the defending national champs will play MSU in Indianapolis.
Junior center Allyssa DeHaan has been often criticized for her lack of toughness and inability to come through in big-game situations — and sometimes rightfully so. But in the MSU women’s basketball team’s first round NCAA Tournament win on Sunday, Middle Tennessee State coach Rick Insell said that was not the case.
Although the home team was dressed in an unfamiliar green jersey, the Breslin Center crowd knew exactly who to cheer for Sunday in the MSU women’s basketball team’s 60-59 win over Middle Tennessee State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
With less than two minutes remaining in the game, Middle Tennessee State’s Alysha Clark drove to the basket for what could have been one more bucket to add to a stunning point total. Instead, she missed a layup and knocked junior forward Aisha Jefferson to the ground in pursuit of the rebound. The whistle sounded, resulting in Clark’s fifth foul and a pivotal moment in MSU’s 60-59 NCAA Tournament victory against the Blue Raiders on Sunday at Breslin Center.
Call it a senior moment. With the score tied in a 57-57 game with Middle Tennessee State, guard Mia Johnson, the MSU women’s basketball team’s lone senior, got the ball on the wing and fired a three-point shot over an outstretched Blue Raiders defender. Johnson, who missed a three on the previous possession, watched the shot fall effortlessly through the basket, giving the Spartans a 60-57 lead with 1:10 remaining in a game they eventually would go on to win 60-59.
By no one’s surprise, Travis Walton once again played a key role in a MSU men’s basketball team victory. Only this time it wasn’t by his stingy, lockdown defense.
Minneapolis — If MSU senior guard Travis Walton has learned anything over the years, it’s to not judge a team by its seed. That theory will hold especially true Sunday, when the Spartans take on No. 10-seed Southern Cal in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Minneapolis — In a perfect world, Southern Cal men’s basketball coach Tim Floyd said he’d like his team to be able to play as many players as the opposition. Come Sunday evening, however, Floyd’s Trojans are going to be far from a perfect world. The No. 10 seeded Trojans, who mainly rely on four players, play at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Metrodome against an MSU team that often goes as many as nine or 10-men deep.