NCAA Regional Semifinals: Michigan State digs deep to clip Kansas late, advance to Elite Eight

For most of Friday night's Midwest Regional semifinal, the Kansas Jayhawks looked more like Michigan State than the Spartans did. Fortunately for Tom Izzo, his own players remembered the kind of basketball that made the Big Ten champions the force they've been over the past decade.
 
A strong finishing kick fueled by renewed intensity on the offensive glass carried Michigan State to a late 12-2 run over the game's final three minutes and 26 seconds. The burst enabled the Spartans to pull out a gutsy 67-62 win over a gallant Kansas crew at Lucas Oil Stadium. The hard-earned triumph allows MSU to face Louisville on Sunday for a ticket to the Final Four.
 
This spirited showdown in Indianapolis was a gut-check game, plain and simple. Michigan State had to fend off a young KU roster that had grown by leaps and bounds since a Jan. 10 matchup in which the Spartans spanked the Jayhawks in authoritative fashion. This neutral-court confrontation witnessed a transformed Kansas team that lacked the deer-in-the-headlights look seen in East Lansing two and a half months ago.

 
Throughout the entirety of the first half and in portions of the second half, the boys in the blue jerseys dominated on the glass at both ends, scoring second-chance points while making Michigan State a one-and-done team. Rebounding, the cornerstone of Michigan State's excellence throughout the Izzo era, became an advantage for the third seed from the Big 12. The second-seeded Spartans lacked spring in their legs, and desire in their hearts, for most of the night's proceedings. If this senior class was going to continue a special streak--namely, that every one of Izzo's seniors, dating back to the class of 1999, has experienced at least one Final Four--the formula for victory wasn't very complicated at all: Rebound. Passionately.
 
The unofficial stats, released just after the end of this game, said that KU still outrebounded MSU by a 31-27 margin, but for all intents and purposes, the Spartans battered Kansas on the boards when they really needed to.
 
The single most essential reality of this contest emerged after ice-veins guard Sherron Collins hit an incredibly difficult shot against good MSU defense to give Kansas a 60-55 lead with 3:26 left in regulation. Pushed to the point of no return, a Spartan team that had virtually no margin for error finally played the letter-perfect basketball that had proven to be elusive for most of the evening. Two offensive rebounds--one by Goran Suton and one by Durrell Summers--led to a putback basket (by Summers) that sliced the KU lead to 60-57. On MSU's next offensive possession, the Spartans outworked the Jayhawks on a battle for a rebound near the baseline, earning another possession after a missed jumper by Kalin Lucas. The team rebound enabled Summers to get to the line.
 
The rebounding-based resurrection only continued in the following few minutes.
 
Summers hit the first of his two free throws, and missed the second. On that miss, Suton--clearly the best Spartan on the floor from start to finish--tipped the ball high in the air toward the left sideline. Summers, from his position at the free throw line, found a running lane toward the ball, which he saved before flying out of bounds. (It's worth noting, as an aside, that the elevated court at Lucas Oil Stadium featured a very wide out of bounds area along the sideline, something that made Summers' save possible.) The offensive rebound allowed Izzo, master of the set play, to call timeout and work his X-and-O magic. Sure enough, the Spartans ran a double curl play that made Kansas's defense chase to the top of the key. Lucas found a driving lane near the left side of the paint and forced Kansas center Cole Aldrich to leave his feet. When Lucas didn't shoot a 10-foot floater and instead found teammate Raymar Morgan rolling to the rim along the left baseline, an easy pass was available. Lucas made the pass, and Morgan--after making the catch--dunked the ball home to tie the score at 60.

The simplicity of Michigan State's rally could be found in one common thread--offensive rebounding. Four rebounds set up five points, turning a multi-possession Kansas lead into a deadlocked duel heading into the final 90 seconds of regulation.
 
From there, Michigan State's defense took over. The energy that was so noticeably absent from the Big Ten champions in the first half resurfaced after halftime, and it reached a fever pitch in this terrific tilt's final moments. Travis Walton smothered Collins at the defensive end to give Michigan State a chance to take the lead in the final minute. When given this grand opportunity, Lucas answered the call for Sparty. He used a pump fake to get Collins in the air, draw a foul, and nail the 10-foot floater he eschewed just moments earlier. The old-fashioned 3-point play gave MSU a 63-60 lead that Lucas sealed with four additional free throws. Thoroughly outworked for so many stretches of play, the Spartans stayed in the conversation and then made a very loud statement in the final 3:26 of regulation.
 
And so the story ends, at least for now: Kansas had its eyes on revenge and the defense of its national title, but Michigan State wouldn't allow the Jayhawks to get away with identity theft for a full 40 minutes. Precisely because they regained their swagger and hunger just in the nick of time, the Spartans conquered KU yet again, and moved within one win of a trip to Detroit for college basketball's biggest weekend bash.
 
Louisville will be a load on Sunday afternoon, but the Cardinals can wait a day. Tonight, a proud Michigan State ballclub should take a little while to savor a stirring comeback, and a manful display of championship toughness that has allowed a marvelous season to continue.
 

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