Posted on 03/26/2005 7:10:31 AM PST by msuMD
AUSTIN, Texas -- With one high-flying display of muscle and moxie, Maurice Ager and the Michigan State Spartans put the exclamation point on their bruising run through the NCAA Tournament.
Taking a pass from Alan Anderson on a fast break in the second half, Ager took one step and leaped high over Duke's J.J. Redick before hammering down a spectacular tomahawk dunk.
He then pounded his chest with his fist.
The jam and Ager's emotional outburst were indicative of the Spartans' rugged 78-68 win over the top-seeded Blue Devils in the Austin Regional on Friday night. The fifth-seeded Spartans (25-6) moved within a game of the Final Four and finally gave coach Tom Izzo his first win over Duke and Coach K.
"I reminded our guys no Michigan State team in the modern era has ever beaten Duke," Izzo said.
He was 0-4 against the Blue Devils and coach Mike Krzyzewski, including a loss in the 1999 Final Four, the year before the Spartans won the national title.
"I didn't give them a Knute Rockne speech," Izzo said. "I just told them to give me 40 intense minutes."
Intense indeed, and it was the Spartans' depth and strength that made it a miserable night for Redick and the Blue Devils (27-6).
Paul Davis had 20 points and 12 rebounds, Anderson scored 17, and the Spartans sent wave after wave of defenders out to the perimeter to bottle up Redick, holding the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year to 13 points.
Davis provided the muscle in the middle. His late 3-point play fouled out Blue Devils forward Shelden Williams with the outcome still in doubt.
"They have a big force in the middle in Shelden Williams but we felt like we had a big force in the middle, too," Anderson said. "From the opening tip to the end, he was aggressive."
The loss ended Krzyzewski's bid for an 11th Final Four.
Like most of their season, the Blue Devils had their "Big Three" of Redick, Williams and Daniel Ewing but little else when it counted against the Spartans, who substituted early and often in an effort to wear them down.
Williams scored 19 points but the tenacious Spartans defense forced 22 Duke turnovers and gave up little ground in the middle in the second half.
"They took away our vision and we didn't see open players," Krzyzewski said. "It was like rushing the quarterback. With pressure you can't see your receiver."
The football analogy was appropriate considering the physical style the Spartans played. Michigan State outrebounded Duke 16-9 on the offensive glass and 38-33 overall.
Redick had the toughest night with another sub-par NCAA Tournament game as he struggled just to get off a shot.
He didn't take his first attempt until hitting a 10-footer with 10:17 left in the first half. By late in the half, he was shaking his head at the officials.
"J.J. was open, we just didn't see him," Krzyzewski said. Redick was just 2-of-6 from the field in the first half.
"We've been in a lot of games like tonight, but we haven't had many with 22 turnovers," Redick said. "We weren't very strong with the ball."
Redick hit three 3-pointers but the 94 percent free-throw shooter made it to the line just twice.
Williams had to pick up the slack, and the muscular forward pounded his way inside for 13 points as the teams went into halftime tied at 32.
The Spartans grabbed their first lead with an 8-0 run early in the second half. Anderson hit Michigan State's first 3-pointer, and Shannon Brown followed it with a layup and another 3-pointer from the left wing that made it 40-36 and forced Duke to call a timeout.
Anderson hit two more shots, and the Spartans appeared to have grabbed complete control when Ager soared over Redick for the dunk, then pounded his chest with his fist.
"We were so pumped up that it was hard to tell if there was a turning point," said Ager, one of the Spartans who pestered Redick all game. "We really just wanted to get after them and wear them out."
Redick immediately answered the dunk with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and hit another that pulled Duke to 56-50 with 8:40 to play.
That's when the pace really picked up.
Duke appeared to pull within two when Williams grabbed the rebound off Redick's missed 3-pointer and went up for a two-handed dunk over Davis. But the ball spun and never dropped all the way through when Williams grabbed the rim. The officials ruled it offensive interference and disallowed the basket.
Duke cut it to 66-63 when Ewing stripped the ball from Anderson and pulled up for a 3-pointer, but Williams fouled out 20 seconds later and Davis converted the 3-point play.
Trying to make a play on the other end, Redick dribbled into the lane and fired a pass between Ewing and Sean Dockery. Neither made a move to get it, and the ball sailed out of bounds.
The Spartans then sealed it with free throws, hitting 6-of-6 over the final minute to stretch the lead.
"This was a game you just didn't get tired in," Davis said. "We just tried to wear them down. We did what we wanted to do."
Notes Duke didn't grab an offensive rebound until there was 6:28 left in the first half. Michigan State thought it had a 34-32 at halftime when Anderson stole the ball from Dockery and went in for a layup with 0.2 seconds left. But the officials disallowed the points when it was determined the clock hadn't started on Duke's inbounds pass before the steal Duke's 22 turnovers matched its 22 field goals
Illini all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and they said the Big Ten is down this here...
I count 3 teams in the Great 8.....
here?!?
year....wow I need some caffiene....
MSU wins.....head for the hills all you couch's, save yourselves from burning. :-)
Duke lost? Excellent. I have Illinois.
I thought that was West Virginia???
Wonder was the spread was?
There's a slight possibility that University of Kentucky and University of Louisville will meet in this year's tournament. Makes me kinda happy I'm not in my home state of KY to see firsthand the insanity that this matchup would create...
I wouldn't be celebrating just yet - if Michigan State can beat Duke, that means they can beat us (UK), too. We face them tomorrow.
Insanity is right. I live in Louisville, but am a die hard KY fan. The Pitino worship here is downright disgusting.
I hope WV knocks the Cards out today.
Sad thing is I didn't get to watch last night's UofK game (damn CBS affiliate here in Maine showed the Villanova game. WRONG SET OF WILDCATS DAMMIT..)
Go MSU.
Those CBS commentators just love Duke - & Mike Krzhrywsky (the vowel depraived Dukey) - 'twas great to see them go down.
My alma maters are PAC 10, Big 8 (now ten?) and Big East (Go West Virginia & Louisville [next year]), so I am as biased against ACC as CBS 'casters are for them.
You guys made me so proud. I was pulling for you all the way, and as you can tell by the tagline, my sympathies,ultimately, are elsewhere. However, you guys were great. Some of my favorite people are Spartans!
I have Kentucky and ILLINOIS in the championship game.
My beloved Huskies lost Thursday. There is no tomorrow...
Let's see...a match up of UK and UL would lead to civil war within the state of Kentucky. Probably more fraternal bloodshed in state than during the War Between the States. OTOH, before Duke's loss I considered a scenario where UL would make it to the championship game and face Duke. I couldn't imagine UK fans dealing with determing who to hate in that contest.
No doubt that scenario would have required massive shipments of Prozac into the state.
*LOL* No doubt. And as far as the UofL/Duke possibility, I'm one of those UofK fans that'll root on UofL...when they're not playing UofK of course.
What game were you watching? Ask any non-Duke ACC fan - they'll tell you Duke (aka "the Notre Dame of college basketball") gets all the calls. Last night was no exception. The pro-Duke timekeeper delayed starting the clock at the end of the first half to give Duke a chance for more points -- oooooops! State stole the ball and got a layup that the refs took away because of the timekeeper foul up. One of many pro-Duke calls. State whipped 'em anyway.
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