tom izzo

The beauty in Michigan State’s play lies in its scoring distribution. Nearly anyone can score at nearly any time. So when Kalin Lucas, the Spartans’ leading scorer almost by default, stood harassed and bothered for the first half, he hardly batted an eye.

The defensive-minded Spartans turned offensive when they needed it most, looking to Lucas who led second-seeded Michigan State to a 67-62 victory over third-seeded Kansas on Friday night in a Midwest Regional semifinal game.
On Sunday, the Spartans will play top-seeded Louisville and will try to advance to their second Final Four in five years.
Lucas provided the dramatics on Friday, converting crucial play after crucial play in the final minutes. With 48 seconds remaining in the game, he provided the Spartans with the lead for good at 63-60, pumping and leaning into Kansas’ Sherron Collins for a 3-point play. Michigan State had only gained possession after Lucas stole the ball from the normally steady-handed Collins.
Lucas sealed the game with four consecutive free throws, converting his shots after ill-timed fouls by Kansas. He ended with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half.
“That’s all I tried to do, tried to create,” said Lucas, a sophomore who was named the Big Ten player of the year. “I just got lucky, got him with the bump and I scored.”

A few seconds earlier, Lucas, who also had seven assists, delivered the pass of the game. After Durrell Summers missed the second of two free throws, Lucas grabbed the rebound and whipped the ball to Raymar Morgan for a thunderous dunk that tied the game at 60-60 and forecasted what Lucas had in store the rest of the game.
The loss ended what had been an improbable but deep title defense for Kansas (27-8). The Jayhawks lost every statistical leader from last season’s title team, but still made it to the the Sweet 16.
Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo looked through Kansas’ earlier loss to the Spartans this season and saw the potential, where perhaps few others did. Izzo said then that the Jayhawks were good and would only improve.
That improvement nearly arrived quicker than even Izzo had imagined.
Collins, a junior point guard and the lone returning contributor from last season’s team, had 20 points. The sophomore center Cole Aldrich had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
“There’s no reason to say we didn’t produce in this area or whatever because when you go back and look at it, we’re up 5 with three minutes left with a bunch of young kids in a big-time game,” Kansas Coach Bill Self said. “So, they obviously played pretty well.”
In the second half, Izzo started Summers in place of Delvon Roe. That change and the openings in the paint that could not be found in the first half seemed to jumpstart the Spartans.

Lucas’s 3-pointer tied the score, 49-49, with 10 minutes 7 seconds left. Travis Walton followed it with a jumper and Self followed that with a timeout. Collins and Aldrich then answered every Michigan State play and Tyrel Reed seemed to swing momentum back to Kansas with a 3-pointer that broke a 53-53 tie with 4:58 left.
But it was Lucas who provided the final retort after a sluggish first half in which he made only 2 of 6 shots. In the final 48 seconds, he had 7 points.
“The type of person Kalin is, when he plays against another big-time guard, Sherron Collins, he wants to prove himself to the nation,” Walton said. “Today, I think he took it personal.”
The Spartans’ droughts in the first half nearly cost them later on, when they went large chunks without a field goal and faced a 32-19 deficit. Kansas pieced together an 11-0 run, forcing Izzo to take a timeout. His team refocused itself enough to end the half by outscoring Kansas, 10-4, punctuated by Goran Suton’s baseline jumper at the buzzer. Suton, who scored a team-high 20 points, originally had the shot called off by the officials, who said it came after the buzzer. After conferring, they overruled the call.