Other Articles in this Category
Most Viewed Stories
Most Commented Stories
Most Recommended Stories
Save & Share this Article
College Top 25 Men's Basketball Capsules: Izzo tops MSU win list in 106-68 win over UMass
Comments 0 | Recommend 0ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Tom Izzo's dress shirt was soaked, a towel draped over his shoulder.
No, Michigan State's head coach didn't have to sweat out a tight win.
Izzo was doused with water by the jubilant Spartans after setting the school record for victories with 341 in the No. 2 Spartans' 106-68 win over Massachusetts on Saturday night in the Legends Classic.
"I had a little bath," a smiling Izzo said.
He didn't have time to duck when the Spartans snuck behind him in the locker room with buckets of water. The Spartans also gave their coach a plaque that read "341 leaves a footprint in the sand."
Water, sand — perhaps it was fitting Izzo earned this milestone victory at the Jersey shore.
"I guess in some ways I'm happy that they appreciate even I want to leave some footprint here somewhere," Izzo said. "Maybe that's what meant as much as anything. I think they were genuinely excited about it and I hope they feel a part of it."
Izzo set the record the same week mentor and predecessor Jud Heathcote was inducted into the National Collegiate Hall of Fame. For years, it was Izzo who sat by Heathcote's side as an assistant and associate head coach. When Heathcote retired, Izzo was his hand-picked successor.
Izzo had already matched him with one national championship apiece. He now stands alone atop the Spartans' win list with a 341-138 record in his 15th season.
"Jud had been so instrumental on my behalf and got me the job, that I'll just look at it as we have 681 wins between us," Izzo said. "We'll count that as a record."
Izzo made the hundreds of green-clad fans who made the trip wait a day for history after the Spartans (5-1) were upset by Florida 77-74 on Friday night. They returned for a glimpse of the record-setter in the consolation game of the tournament, where Florida played Rutgers in the championship game.
Like so many of Michigan State's games against weak non-conference teams, this outcome was never in doubt. The Spartans used a 30-3 run in the first half to turn this slice of school history into a lopsided one.
Chris Allen led the Spartans with 18 points. Raymar Morgan scored 17 points, Kalin Lucas had 16 and Korie Lucious 13. The Spartans made 14 of 22 3s, led by four each from Lucas and Allen.
They were all proud to be a part of Izzo's big day.
"Just like he's going to be remembered forever, we're going to remembered forever for the team that gave him that 341," Allen said.
Spartan fans held printed "341" cards and chanted Izzo's name in the waning moments, and stood and applauded him once the final horn sounded. Izzo has led the Spartans to five Final Fours since 1999 and were blown out in the national title game last season to North Carolina.
Izzo, Lucas and the Spartans are motivated to get there again and win the program's third national title. Heathcote won the championship with Magic Johnson in 1979, and Izzo won his title in 2000.
The Spartans were stunned by the Gators a night earlier in large part because they missed eight of 10 3-point attempts. The Minutemen (2-4) had a flicker of success early with an 8-2 lead, then watched it evaporate into a 32-11 hole once the Spartans regained their touch.
Lucas hit a pair of 3s that tied the score, Lucious and Morgan connected during the run, and even when they went inside the arc, the Spartans still got three. Delvon Roe made the most of a shaky pass and errant landing when he was fouled on a layup and converted the three-point play for a 32-11 lead.
Lucious hit three 3s in the first half, and the Spartans went 8 for 15 on 3s to take a 55-38 lead into the break.
Anthony Gurley scored 24 points and Ricky Harris had 15 for UMass.
"When we scored, they did as good a job as I've seen in a long time getting the ball to the basket and really pushing it down their throats," UMass coach Derek Kellogg said.
Izzo glumly downplayed the coaching milestone when the Gators won on Friday. He was more appreciative of the mark the night he tied Heathcote. Izzo will have little time to savor the win: Michigan State has a national championship rematch Tuesday against North Carolina.
"That's all we think about right now is getting back out," Allen said. "It's revenge time."
Pena, Reynolds lead 'Nova to 81-63 rout of LaSalle
VILLANOVA, Pa. — Villanova coach Jay Wright can find plenty of things wrong with an 18 point victory. His team gave him the opportunity to try on Saturday.
Antonio Pena and Scottie Reynolds scored 14 points each, and the No. 4 Wildcats unnerved city rival LaSalle with their defense in an 81-63 victory that left Wright none too pleased.
"There's a good chance we won't be sending that one to Springfield," Wright said, referring to the Hall of Fame.
Corey Fisher added 13 points and six steals and Dominic Cheek had 10 points for the Wildcats (6-0), who have won eight straight over the Explorers and 20 of the last 21 against Big 5 teams, including Temple, Saint Joseph's and Penn.
"You've got to battle through these," Wright said. "I never hold our team responsible for how we look in these games."
Villanova also won its 30th straight at The Pavilion, its 6,500-seat on-campus arena. The streak began with a 102-87 victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 17, 2007.
Kimmani Barrett scored 17 points, Jerrell Williams added 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and Aaric Murray had 15 points and 14 rebounds for LaSalle (3-2), which hasn't beaten Villanova since Nov. 27, 2001.
"I thought my team's effort was tremendous," LaSalle coach John Giannini said. "If we could have avoided some mental breakdowns and made free throws, it could have been much closer."
Leading scorer Rodney Green entered the game averaging 20 points, but was limited to seven on 2-of-13 shooting. Green had scored at least 10 points in 30 straight games.
"Pressure, pressure," Green said, "too much pressure."
The Explorers missed their first seven 3-pointers and finished 1 for 10 from beyond the arc. They weren't much better from the foul line, where they were only 20 of 37.
"The free-throw shooting was absurd," Giannini said.
LaSalle struggled mightily against Villanova's full-court pressure, especially in the first half. The Explorers, missing guard Ruben Guillandeaux with a sore foot, committed a season-high 19 turnovers in the opening half. They finished with 27 against Villanova's active trap.
"We caused turnovers in the first half," Wright said. "That was the best thing we did, especially on the perimeter."
Still, LaSalle hung around and trailed 45-39 early in the second half. A 10-2 run by 'Nova extended the lead to 55-41 with 11:13 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Corey Stokes from the top of the key gave Villanova a 61-44 lead with 8:55 left, and LaSalle never crept within double figures the rest of the way.
Villanova leads 33-26 in the all-time series with LaSalle.
Defense leads No. 6 Purdue past C. Michigan 64-38
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue coach Matt Painter will take this kind of defensive masterpiece any time.
The No. 6 Boilermakers used their staunch defense to overcome a sluggish offensive start, routing Central Michigan 64-38 on Saturday.
"It was a different pace of the game for us, not as many possessions, and I thought our guys struggled at times," Painter said. "But anytime you hold a team to 38 points and you have no guys in double figures, that's a good job."
Especially under the circumstances.
The game fell perfectly between Monday's big win over No. 9 Tennessee and next Tuesday's game against Wake Forest, came two days after Thanksgiving and included a rare 11:30 a.m. start time — all factors that had Painter worried.
So he changed the team's pregame routine. Instead of eating pasta four hours before tip-off, players gathered an hour later than usual for breakfast. And instead of their usual gameday shoot-around, players slept in.
The result: Purdue (5-0) went 9 of 22 from the field in the first half before waking up in the second half. E'Twaun Moore led the Boilermakers with 15 points, Robbie Hummel added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Chris Kramer not only was held scoreless for the first time since last December, he didn't even attempt a shot.
Defensively, however, the Boilers were relentless.
They limited the Chippewas (2-4) to five baskets in the first half and 13 for the game. Finis Craddock finished with eight points, the only Central Michigan player to top six, and William McClure was the only Central player with more than two baskets. He had six points.
The Chippewas scored only 14 in the first half, two more than Purdue's modern-era record of 12. Plus, the 38 points allowed matched the lowest point total allowed by Purdue in the Painter era, now in its fifth season. Michigan State also scored 38 on Feb. 7, 2007.
All this against a team that was Mid-American Conference West Division co-champs last season and is favored to win the division outright this season.
How impressive was Purdue?
"We ran into a buzzsaw here defensively and it actually reminded me a lot of some of those teams we had at Pittsburgh," said Central coach Ernie Zeigler, a former Ben Howland assistant. "These guys all buy into that level of toughness, a lot like we had with some of those Big East championship teams."
The 38 points were also the fewest in Zeigler's tenure, now in its fourth season.
Purdue will gladly take it.
"We have a tendency to sometimes, like last year, win a big game and then come out sort of lackluster," Keaton Grant said. "I think we did a pretty good job coming out today."
It still took a while for the Boilermakers to get going, and seven minutes into the game, the scrappy teams were locked in a 9-9 tie.
Moore's only 3-pointer of the game was the break the Boilermakers needed. It started a 9-0 run, which Purdue used to take control for good.
Over the final 32 minutes, Central Michigan endured four long droughts without a basket. The total elapsed time consumed more than 25½ minutes, with the longest being 8:10 separated by the halftime break. Central Michigan finished the game shooting 26.5 percent from 2-point range and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. It also committed 19 fouls and 16 turnovers, and once the Boilermakers defense started causing havoc, it didn't stop.
"We got a little momentum and once you get a turnover, you start following that with another one and another one," Grant said after scoring 10 points.
Purdue took advantage of the miscues.
It forced turnovers on Central's last four possessions of the first half, closing on an 11-0 spurt to make it 29-14. After Central Michigan made it 29-17 on Craddock's driving, spinning layup, with 17:58 to go, the Boilers went on a 7-3 mini-run and used a 10-0 run to make it 49-24. The Chippewas didn't get closer than 19 the rest of the way.
"Any time you have a game over the break, sandwiched between two very good teams, you have to show them a lot of film to understand Central Michigan has a lot of size and strength," Painter said. "You have to show them that. But defense is what you hang your hat on, and that's what we did today."
-- Michael Marrot
Bellfield leads UNLV to upset of No. 16 Louisville
LAS VEGAS — UNLV nearly let a big lead fritter away against Louisville.
Oscar Bellfield scored 17 points, Tre'Von Willis added 16 and the Runnin' Rebels held on for a 76-71 win over the No. 16 Cardinals on Saturday, a game the Mountain West upstarts led by 19 points in the second half.
The Cardinals (4-1) used a 30-11 run to overcome the 53-34 deficit with 14:05 remaining, tying the score at 64-64 on Rakeem Buckles' basket with 4:24 left. Bellfield answered with six straight points, and the Runnin' Rebels (5-0) managed to hang on in a game they never trailed.
"Oscar was great," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "He kept battling."
Buckles scored eight of his 10 points during Louisville's tying run. He also finished with 11 rebounds, while Edgar Sosa had 18 points and Samardo Samuels 13.
"That was a game that showed a lot about our team," Kruger said. "You see a lot of pressure from (Rick) Pitino teams. ... Our team has been very unselfish. Our depth is huge — it has already paid us dividends."
The Cardinals were coming off a four-game sweep in the Hall of Fame showcase, including a 96-66 rout of Arkansas. But they were unimpressive in a 69-56 win over East Tennessee State and a 90-81 victory over Morgan State, and were stung again by the Runnin' Rebels.
UNLV went into Freedom Hall and won 56-55 last season. Before that, Louisville had won four straight in the series dating to 1993.
"It's not a bad loss," Pitino said. "It' snot surprising when you play a road game like this, this early in the season. It's a difficult place to play. We knew it would be a tough game, but we knew it would make us a better team in the end."
Darris Santee added 13 points and a key block in the final minute for UNLV, which led 40-30 at halftime. Derrick Jasper added 12 points and Chace Stanback finished with nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
The Cardinals tied the score at 20-20 on Sosa's lay-up with 9:30 left, but the Rebels shot 56 percent from the field (15 of 27) over the first 20 minutes and led 38-27 following Willis' free throw with 2:24 remaining.
Bellfield scored nine points and Willis had eight during the first half.
"They threw a big run at us. We took the hit, but we got up and fought back," Willis said. "We share the ball — we are an unselfish team. We ground it out at the end of the game. It shows our character, it shows how much fight we have in us."
Diebler, No. 17 Ohio State beat St. Francis 110-47
COLUMBUS, Ohio — St. Francis coach Don Friday didn't mince words.
"We got shellacked," he said through a forced half-smile. "I feel like I went through a 15-round street fight with an 18-wheeler."
Jon Diebler hit five 3-pointers to get No. 17 Ohio State off to a fast start, and the Buckeyes coasted to a 110-47 victory over St. Francis, Pa., on Saturday.
It was the most points scored by the Buckeyes since piling up 121 points in 1995 against George Mason, and matched the 11th-highest total ever for the program.
The margin was the widest since a 116-44 beating of Chicago State in 1991.
Diebler scored 15 of his 17 points during the Buckeyes' quick start, Evan Turner had 16 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists, and center Dallas Lauderdale had one of his most dominant games at Ohio State (5-1). He flirted with career highs in points (11), rebounds (6) and blocked shots (6).
In addition, Jeremie Simmons came off the bench to score 18 points, William Buford chipped in 15 points and P.J. Hill had 10.
The Buckeyes had looked listless in the first half of a humdrum 84-64 win over Lipscomb on Tuesday night. That was something that coach Thad Matta didn't want to see again.
"The one thing we asked these guys was to get out early, and establish especially from the defensive side of the ball of really dictating the tempo with pressure," he said. "Our guys did that."
The players got the message.
"After the last game when he said we didn't come out with enough intensity, in practice (Matta) really stressed intensity," said Turner, who only played 27 minutes after averaging 36 coming in. "He really told us to be in attack mode. We were focused in being in attack mode and making sure they were uncomfortable."
Diebler took it upon himself to make the Red Flash extremly uncomfortable.
"That first 4-minute war we kind of sent a message to them," Diebler said, referring to the first few minutes of the game. "It just started to wear on them because we kept coming. Even the guys who came off the bench came with great energy."
Cedric Latimer had 16 points for the offensively challenged Red Flash (1-5), who had scored 72 points in a 23-point loss at Notre Dame on Nov. 16. Devin Sweetney added 10.
"My biggest concern coming into the game is that we have no inside players bigger than 6-foot-6 that have any kind of college varsity experience," Friday said. "We may be able to get away with that in our Northeast Conference, if we're fortunate enough. We're going to get exposed (here). We got rung up tonight."
After Diebler set the pace in the opening half, Lauderdale did the same in the second. He blocked one shot in front of the Red Flash bench, saved it from going out of bounds and then crashed to the floor, grimacing in pain. He also caught another shot in the lane.
And he brought one of the biggest ovations of the night when he banked in a free throw early in the second half. Lauderdale laughed long and hard after the shot clanged off the backboard and through the net.
"I'm good for banking in a free throw here and there," he joked. "It's the weight room."
The Buckeyes hit better than 70 percent of their shots from the field until the final few minutes. They finished at 63 percent after substituting heavily for most of the second half.
The first half was forgettable for the Red Flash.
Through the opening 12 minutes, they had more shots blocked (3) than made (2).
With Ohio State leading 5-3, the Buckeyes went on a runs of 11-0, 12-0 and 11-0 to build a 41-10 lead. The chief instigator was Diebler, who hit five 3-pointers, and also had two early steals and an assist in the opening minutes.
After taking a 52-22 lead at the break, Lauderdale blocked several shots to intimidate the Red Flash inside and they became unraveled, the Buckeyes reeling off 18 of the first 20 points in the second half to make it 70-24.
It was the first time the teams had ever met.
-- Rusty Miller
Clark's 19 leads No. 18 Hoyas over Lafayette 97-64
WASHINGTON — For the first time in John Thompson III's six seasons as coach, Georgetown had six players in double figures on Saturday.
The Hoyas' hard-to-please coach still needs convincing they're ready for bigger challenges.
After No. 18 Georgetown defeated Lafayette 97-64, Thompson spent an especially long time poring over the stat sheet. He had plenty to read about.
Jason Clark had a career-high 19 points, Hollis Thompson had 16 and Chris Wright added 14 for the Hoyas (4-0). Greg Monroe had 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists, Austin Freeman scored 12 and Julian Vaughn finished with 11 points.
"I don't go into a game saying: 'We need four, five, six guys in double figures,'" Thompson said. "We have a bunch of guys in that locker room that can score points. Who scores the points is irrelevant to this group."
Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon's team hadn't faced a ranked team since February 2006, and his team doesn't regularly face one with the array of skills that Monroe and his teammates have.
"In my mind, they're a top-20 team. Are they a top-10 team? That's to be decided," O'Hanlon said. "Any time you have a guy like Monroe, you always have a chance."
Thompson is proud of the large number of Georgetown players who have become excellent NBA players. He compared Clark with Allen Iverson, who played two years for his father.
"For his whole career, everyone talked about, 'He's too little, he's going to wear down.' He hasn't yet," Thompson said. "They're both scrawny little kids, but they haven't worn down."
Clark, who is listed at 6-foot-2, 170 pounds, admits that Georgetown practices are sometimes harder than games.
"I take a lot of hits. They beat me up in practice. I don't have a lot of concerns about wearing down," Clark said. "(Iverson) plays hard the whole game, and that's what I try and do."
Hollis Thompson, who had just a single field goal in Georgetown's first three games, hit all six shots he attempted — four of them 3-pointers.
The Leopards (4-2) were led by Jared Mintz' 16 points. Jim Mower had 12.
The Hoyas led throughout the game, but Lafayette trailed just 25-23 with 8:41 to play in the first half. Then Georgetown, led by Monroe's seven points, closed the half with a 20-6 run to lead 45-31 at the break.
Georgetown had held its first three opponents to an average of 49 points, and while it wasn't that stingy, it still forced Lafayette into 11 first-half turnovers.
The Hoyas came out quickly in the second half, outscoring the Leopards 12-1 for a 57-32 lead with 17:28 to play. The highlight was a steal by the 6-foot-11 Monroe, who dribbled three-quarters of the court for a pretty left-handed layup.
Clark had six points in the first half, but hit three 3-pointers in the first eight minutes of the second. The outcome was never really in doubt after that, unlike the Hoyas' other home game, when they escaped with a 46-45 win over Temple on Nov. 17.
Even though Georgetown built a 25-point lead early in the second half, pesky Lafayette managed to avoid embarrassment by scoring six straight points. They kept firing 3-pointers, although they missed nine of their 12 attempts in the second half.
The Leopards, who were playing the Hoyas for the first time in 30 years, hit five of seven from 3-point range in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Bradley surprises No. 20 Illinois
LAS VEGAS — Andrew Warren listened to his coach and helped the Braves pull the upset.
Warren scored 16 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left, to lift Bradley to a 72-68 win over Illinois on Saturday night.
Warren's basket from the left arc put the Braves up 68-66. Bradley, which had five players in double figures, ended on an 11-2 run and went 3-1 in the Invitational.
"I came off a screen down the baseline and my defender (D.J. Richardson) was trailing me," Warren said. "I saw I had space. I just rose up and was aggressive. I had confidence in myself. Coach (Jim Les) said to stay aggressive."
Chris Roberts had 13 points for the Braves (4-2). Will Egolf, Taylor Brown, and Sam Maniscalco all had 12 points apiece. Egolf had nine rebounds, while Brown had seven.
Maniscalco, who made two free throws with 2 seconds left to seal it, had five assists and two steals.
Mike Davis led the Illini (4-2) with 17 points and eight rebounds. Illinois finished the tournament a disappointing 2-2, and lost the last two games in Las Vegas on consecutive days. Utah upset the Illini 70-68 on Friday night.
Mike Tisdale had 12 points and eight rebounds for Illinois while Demetri McCamey added 10 points and four assists.
"We didn't execute down the stretch," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "We had some shots. To (Bradley's) credit, they made some shots. We have a long way to go. We have to learn from it. We're a young team."
After trailing 29-28 at halftime, the Braves opened a 47-38 lead with 12:59 left. But the Illini went on an 18-8 run and eventually took the lead on Davis' 3-point play with 4:44 left 62-61.
After Illinois built a 66-61 lead, Bradley scored the next nine points, capped by Warren's 3-pointer.
After Warren's 3-pointer, McCamey had a chance to tie with 24 seconds left, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw.
"When we walked out of that meeting, I knew we were going to play our butts off," Les said. "Our guys made big plays on both ends of the floor. We pride ourselves on coming out of timeouts and doing something different."
Bradley shot 8 of 27 in the first half. But the Braves jumped out to a 14-6 lead.
Illinois went on a 9-0 run and led 23-17 before four more lead changes in the half. The Illini led 29-28 at the half on Davis' layup just before the buzzer.
"When we're solid on the defensive end, we're a tough team to score against," Les said. "We're a work in progress like any team in November."
The schools are separated by roughly 90 miles, but played 1,700 miles away at the Orleans Arena.
"They're kind of our big brother," Warren said. "We're the younger brother. It's big win for us."
Harangody leads Irish to easy win over Saint Louis
CHICAGO — Luke Harangody and Ben Hansbrough shook off their shooting difficulties from a night earlier and helped No. 23 Notre Dame respond to a disappointing loss with a victory.
"We weren't going to come out without a win. We were pretty upset about last night's game, but we can't dwell on that," Harangody said Saturday, after the Irish beat Saint Louis 64-52 to capture third place in the Chicago Invitational Challenge.
Harangody had 14 of his 18 points in the second half and Hansbrough finished with 14.
A night earlier in a 14-point loss to Northwestern, Harangody shot 7 for 19 and Hansbrough was 1 for 10. On Saturday, Harangody was 6 for 9 in the second half and 8 for 16 for the game, while Hansbrough finished 6 of 9 from the field.
"I thought Notre Dame responded the way you want to respond when you have a game like they had last night," Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus said.
"They're just physical and strong. Harangody was not the backbreaker. The backbreaker for us was Hansbrough. He was posting up our guy and driving our guards."
Harangody is now two points shy of becoming the seventh 2,000-point scorer in Irish history, and would become the first Notre Dame player to have 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Willie Reed led Saint Louis (4-2) with 20 points and 15 rebounds.
"We got worn down emotionally because we missed a lot of good shots," said Majerus, whose team shot 34 percent from the field.
Harangody connected on his first 3-point attempt of the game to start the second half — he'd been 0 for 6 from long range Friday night. He then took a pass on the break and made a nice spin in the lane before hitting a layup as the Irish quickly expanded a three-point halftime lead to eight just over a minute into the half.
Saint Louis got within one when Kwamain Mitchell hit three straight baskets, but Harangody hit two of his own and Tim Abromaitis dropped in four free throws — two after a technical on Mitchell — to put Notre Dame up nine.
Harangody picked up his fourth foul with 5:43 left, and Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to pull the Billikens within four. But Notre Dame stretched the lead as Hansbrough hit a driving basket, Abromaitis a 3-pointer and Harangody a jumper with just under two minutes remaining.
"He is a one-man scoring run and it can happen at any time," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I thought his teammates got him the ball in some key spots. We knew we had to get him some touches when it got down to four or five points. We did a good job of getting him touches."
Hansbrough had missed all seven of his 3-pointers Friday night, and he didn't even attempt one against the Billikens.
"I told him today just relax. Shooters in our program, I don't ever talk to them when they have a tough night," Brey said. "I thought he was able to drive it to get him started. He is a driver first and when he can drive, I think it gets him a better rhythm."
Harangody was off again in the first half, missing 5 of 7 attempts. He was scoreless before hitting a jumper with 5 minutes left that ended a 6-minute Irish scoring drought. And then once he hit his first two shots in the second half, he was more comfortable.
"I had a couple of good looks in the first half. They just haven't necessarily been going in," Harangody said.
The teams traded first-half runs. The Irish scored nine straight when the Billikens didn't score for five minutes. St. Louis then ran off 10 in a row capped by Reed's dunk.
Notre Dame took a three-point halftime lead on Carleton Scott's dunk just before the buzzer after he took a pass from a driving Tory Jackson.
-- Rick Gano
See archived 'Sports' stories »
We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.
