NCAA Tournament: Late lapses by USC enable Michigan State to survive

Travis Walton had a career game for the Michigan State Spartans, but as much as a defensive stopper's offensive excellence mattered to the Big Ten champions, they wouldn't be standing in the Sweet 16 if the USC Trojans hadn't make two very critical mistakes.
 
A pair of improbable plays at the end of a thrilling contest enabled Tom Izzo's team to make college basketball's round of 16 for the seventh time in the past 11 seasons. Michigan State edged past USC, 74-69, to move from a dome in Minneapolis to a dome in Indianapolis for the Midwest Regional semifinals against Kansas on Friday night.
 
During the season, coach Tim Floyd's Southern California crew frequently settled for jumpers, but in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a confident and transformed team from Los Angeles not only decided to drive the ball hard to the rim; the red-shirted Trojans succeeded in that very same endeavor. It's not often that an opponent is able to pile-drive the ball to the goal against Michigan State and punish the Spartans inside, but that's exactly what the No. 10 seed did throughout this Sunday showdown in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. USC got to the foul line 26 times against Sparty, which produced 22 makes for the Men of Troy and, just as importantly, got MSU center Goran Suton in foul trouble. MSU never fully adjusted to USC's approach, and that's why the Pac-10 Conference tournament champions were able to score the ball against a top-notch defensive team.

How, then, did the second-seeded Spartans manage to live another day? They benefited from two plays that will be permanently seared into the minds of everyone intimately associated with this game.
 
The first of these two plays occurred with just under two minutes left in regulation, and Michigan State holding a tenuous 71-69 lead. Spartan guard Durrell Summers, who grabbed an eye-popping 7 first-half rebounds and held his team together early, lost his mind after gaining a crucial defensive rebound with 1:56 on the clock. Summers--near the left sideline in his own backcourt--committed one of basketball's cardinal sins by floating a crosscourt pass into traffic. USC guard Daniel Hackett picked off the pass and, with a full head of steam, stormed to the bucket for a game-tying layup or, at the very least, a likely two-shot foul.
 
That game-tying play would never emerge.
 
Hackett simply lost the ball in the middle of the lane, about six feet from the basket. Floyd--who got ejected from an NCAA Tournament game in 2007 against North Carolina--went ballistic on the USC bench, but replays showed that Hackett plainly allowed the orange sphere to slip from his grasp. The Spartans corralled the loose ball, and maintained their lead for the time being. However, the Izzone wouldn't breathe easier until MSU gained a two-possession lead. The Spartans needed more points in order to feel truly secure.
 
Then came the second dagger, the mental lapse that killed the USC cause.
 
On the ensuing offensive possession for Sparty, a stagnant halfcourt set put the ball in Suton's hands 18 feet from the basket with just two seconds left on the shot clock. Suton won't beat anyone with the dribble, so the Bosnian big man did what he reasonably could: pump-fake his defender, USC reserve Nikola Vucevic, who had filled in admirably for foul-plagued post player Taj Gibson. Vucevic, after several minutes of inspired rebounding that kept USC close, made the fatal mistake of putting his left hand on Suton's shoulder. When Suton left the floor to shoot the basketball, Vucevic's off-hand gave the appearance of pushing Suton to the side. In a game where the officials blew a lot of whistles, often on ticky-tack touch fouls (for both teams), it was very easy to understand why the foul was called. Given that it affected a shot, it was probably the appropriate call under the circumstances. Vucevic simply got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and when Suton knocked down the resulting pair of free throws, MSU finally had a small but real four-point cushion. 

Forced to shoot threes on a day when both teams played almost exclusively within 10 to 14 feet of the basket, USC couldn't find the range from long distance in the final minute, and the Spartans got out of Minnesota with a white-knuckle win.
 
While those two plays--the Hackett fumble and the Vucevic foul--tipped the balance in MSU's favor, the one person who starred for the Spartans was guard Travis Walton.
 
This past Thursday, college basketball fans had to notice Memphis's act of survival against 15th-seeded Cal State-Northridge, which was made possible only because Roburt Sallie, a 5-point-per-game scorer, exploded for 35 on a day when none of his teammates played well. Similar to Mr. Sallie, Walton stepped up in this game at the offensive end of the floor. Always valued as a lock-down defender but never as a scorer, Walton entered this game averaging 5 points a game, just like Memphis's Thursday hero. Amazingly, Walton nailed medium-range jumpers from the wings on a consistent basis, on his way to a season-high 18 points, which led all Michigan State scorers. A remarkable 8-of-13 shooting performance enabled Walton to register his first double-figure scoring game since Jan. 10.
 
And pray tell, just what team did Walton victimize on that day, with an 11-point outing in East Lansing?
 
Why, it was none other than the Kansas Jayhawks, the team the Spartans play next in Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts.
 
Michigan State needs to beef up its defense in order to conquer Kansas a second time, but the defending national champions can wait a day. On a satisfying Sunday evening, the Spartans aren't breaking down game film; they're thanking their lucky stars that their defensive specialist turned in a special offensive performance. Travis Walton's magic touch and two USC stumbles have managed to bring Michigan State back to a familiar place: the always-Sweet 16.

> Find more Big Ten football news online at Big Ten Fans!