The question, of course, was where Michigan State’s loss to No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee State on Friday ranked on his personal list of NCAA Tournament defeats.
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OR coach Dana Altman was anxious about the Ducks being tight in the opening stages, given the attention that came with the No. 1 seed, a Pac-12 tournament title and a long win streak.
Coach Tom Izzo knows the pedigree won’t do much good in this afternoon’s matchup against Middle Tennessee State. Before he was surrounded by those TV cameras in the hallway, he had to stand outside the Middle Tennessee locker room (a coincidence, because that was across the hall from the main interview room) and do a Big Ten Network interview.
Middle Tennessee stormed out to a 15-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game, playing loose while Michigan State appeared totally unprepared for the onslaught. The wing grabbed 18 rebounds against Dayton, including eight offensive boards, and it could be one of the game’s more fascinating sub-plots, considering Middle Tennessee, like Michigan State, is stout on the defensive glass (the team allows opponents to grab just a quarter of their misses). Middle Tennessee then stripped Eron Harris and dunked with 40 seconds remaining to expand the lead to seven points, sparking shock across the country. MSU reeled off a couple of three-pointers in a row before the Blue Raiders got one of their own courtesy of Raymond to bring the score to 20-10. But the Blue Raiders made it all look too easy en route to one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.
“They were so ready to play us”, Denzel Valentine said. The Bulldogs never led.
From a historical perspective, the last time a 15-seed won was in 2013 when Florida Gulf Coast beat Georgetown. Harris had nine points and five turnovers…. He didn’t play well throughout the game despite posting 13 points; he went 5-13 from the floor and 3-8 from deep while turning the ball over 6 times. But I finally realized that everybody loses in this tournament every coach, every team somewhere along the line. The margin in rebounds was minimal (30-28 in favor of Michigan State). Richmond built a 10-point second-half lead by befuddling the second-seeded Orange with a series of different man and zone defenses. On the season they’ll finish with a 29-6 mark but may be best remembered for their final game of the season instead of their season full of success.
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Hawaii won its first NCAA tournament game in school history, when the 13th-seeded Warriors ended No4 California’s tumultuous week with a 77-66 upset victory Friday in the first round of the South Regional. The Wildcats edged the Tar Heels thanks to the combination of a scintillating individual performance and timely 3-point shooting.
