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.
The MSU women’s basketball team got one last day of practice in before facing off against Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Breslin Center. Playing on a court that no longer bared the familiar “S” in the middle of the court, the team worked diligently on working against pressure, something that Middle Tennessee does as well as any team in the country.
Throw conferences, strength of schedule and RPI out the window. When coming up against the top scorer in the nation, you can’t help but take notice. The MSU women’s basketball team will do just that in its first round NCAA Tournament game against Middle Tennessee State on Sunday, taking the floor against star junior forward Alysha Clark, who leads the nation with 27.3 points per game. In addition, she averages 9.8 rebounds per contest.
Minneapolis — Before heading back to the locker room after pregame warm-ups, MSU sophomore guard Chris Allen has a little ritual: He always takes the last shot.
Minneapolis — To this day, Travis Walton remembers the MSU men’s basketball team’s 81-67 loss to North Carolina in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The now-senior guard said he played awful as a sophomore point guard on that team, hanging his head in despair as the Spartans’ deficit grew deeper and deeper.