Michigan State hasn’t played in almost two weeks and Izzo believes the layoff was beneficial to Bridges, who has shot below 50 percent in each of the team’s last six games. While Syracuse isn’t entertaining on offense this season – averaged under 70 points per game – its long 2-3 zone defense made teams uncomfortable all season, and the Spartans never figured it out on Sunday.
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Auburn, playing under the cloud of a federal investigation, survived a poor shooting performance to win in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003.
The triple by McQuaid was more than welcomed for Michigan State fans.
SAN DIEGO – Jon Elmore scored 27 points and 13th-seeded Marshall toppled fourth-seeded Wichita State for its first NCAA tournament victory. If the Orange are going to continue shocking teams this tournament, they are going to need to find a third scorer. The Spartans are seeded No. 3 in the Midwest Region while Syracuse is No. 11.
Michigan State are favored by 14.5 points, so an upset will be hard, but this still stands as a potentially entertaining-and underrated-matchup.
MICHIGAN STATE 82, BUCKNELL 78 Miles Bridges outlasted Zach Thomas, scoring 29 points and grabbing nine rebounds to help second-seeded Michigan State hold on.
The fact that the Bison pushed the Spartans to the limit can serve as another rallying point for the Orange. “So that’s the first thing we focus on and defending those guys because they can shoot the three”.
The made three-pointer by Poole bounced Houston from the tournament and advanced MI through to the Sweet 16 for the second time in as many years.
Floor leader Cassius Winston (12.6 points, 6.8 assists) would rank first in the nation in 3-point percentage at 52.6 if he’d attempted a few more.
Marek Dolezaj scored 17 points in that game, while Oshae Brissett added 15.
MSU Sophomore guard/forward Miles Bridges was named a Second Team All-American by The Sporting News and by USA Today.
Again, though, Syracuse’s depth showed as an issue, and it will be interesting to see how much steam it will have on Sunday. (Jason Rzucidlo/AmericaJR)MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo talks to his team during a time-out. Also, Michigan State can not settle for threes and must push the pace whenever possible. “But, boy, we started running some stuff from him and he started answering the bell, one after the other, and the tip dunk kind of typified it”, Izzo said.
People told me I was insane when I said that, but I really believed it. “I think we got a tough draw this year for sure, which kind of sucked”.
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It was over when: Michigan State led 44-40 at halftime.
