It might be an unfamiliar matchup for the players and fans when No. 10 New Mexico and 2nd-seeded Michigan State meet Sunday night in Cleveland for a second-round South Region tussle in the NCAA Tournament.
But it won’t be unfamiliar for the coaches.
The Lobos’ Richard Pitino and the Spartans’ Tom Izzo met 11 times in seven seasons while Pitino ran the Minnesota program. Izzo owns an 8-3 advantage in those matchups, but he also knows Pitino probably has more talent at his disposal now than he did for most of those games with the Golden Gophers.
“This team has size everywhere,” Izzo said of New Mexico after his team toppled 15th-seeded Bryant 87-62 in Friday night’s late game. “That’s a good team. They beat UCLA, they beat USC and those teams beat us. He’s done a hell of a job down there.”
Pitino and the Lobos scored a 75-66 win on Friday night over 7th-seeded Marquette as Donovan Dent overcame eight turnovers to score 21 points and dish out six assists. Nelly Junior Joseph added 19 points and seven rebounds.
It was a significant win for New Mexico for several reasons. Not only was it Pitino’s first NCAA Tournament win with the program, but it was also the Lobos’ first tourney victory since 2012. For the program’s rabid fans, it might have erased the memory of last March’s one-and-done at the hands of Clemson, a team many experts thought they would beat.
“We’ve got great chemistry. We’ve done it all year with defense,” Pitino said. “Our role guys are really starting to step up.”
There’s more history on the line for New Mexico (27-7). If it wins this game, it will make its first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1974, when Norm Ellenberger was in the midst of a successful run that started filling the Pit, one of the sport’s more storied venues.
“These guys have scratched and clawed and made winning plays all year,” Pitino said.
The same can be said for Michigan State (28-6), which won the Big 10 regular season title after starting the year unranked, a rarity for a program that’s been one of the sport’s brand names for a couple of generations.
On Friday, Bryant led 21-19 with 6:45 left in the first half before the Spartans clicked into rhythm.
At that point, the Bulldogs owned a 17-15 rebounding advantage. Over the remainder of the game: Michigan State 39, Bryant 12.
“They came right out and punched us in the mouth, got some rebounds early,” Izzo said. “We are a good rebounding team. I thought we got pushed around a little bit in the first half and maybe that was me. But we did a better job the second half.”
Coen Carr came off the bench to score 18 points and grab nine rebounds for the Spartans, which connected on 10 of 26 3-pointers. Jase Richardson added 15 points, going 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and Tre Holloman knocked down 4 of 5 deep shots off the bench.
The winner advances to the regional semifinals against either sixth-seeded Ole Miss or No. 3 seed Iowa State.
–Field Level Media
