NCAA Tournament: Five Reasons the Hurricanes Can Get to the Sweet 16

The final regular season standings could have very well played a factor in the series. The young Spartans looked visibly rattled.

“I was anxious that those freshmen …” “We have bigger sights on things”.

Or as Wolverine forward Moritz Wagner mentioned about trying to play defense in such a game, “It can be frustrating”. Michigan State has fared well against the Jayhawks in recent years and that’s an intriguing matchup all around – especially because of the Josh Jackson factor. The Hurricanes then split two games in the ACC tournament, sliding by Syracuse before falling to North Carolina last Thursday 78-53.

Kansas State vs. Cincinnati at 6:27 p.m. I’d expect Oklahoma State to switch ball screens with their smaller lineups which will present us with another chance to watch Derrick Walton try to break down those one-on-one matchups with the Cowboy wings.

Jordan Eccleston: Michigan has always been a great offensive team under Beilein, but it will be their defense that proves the difference against Michigan’s first round opponent. “That’s the way it’s been for us”. Davon Reed added 12 points and Bruce Brown 11, and the Hurricanes shot just 40.4 percent (21 of 52). Bridges finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Langford added 13 points, 10 of them in the second half. It made 16 of them, good for a staggering 55.2 percent. The Spartans trailed by 12 points early, but used a massive run in the first half to take control of the game.

Helped by 56.6 percent shooting, the Spartans led by 20 at the midpoint of the second half and never wavered, punctuating the victory with back-to-back dunks in the closing minutes.

Following a clutch mid-range jumper from Zak Irvin, OSU’s Evans went to the free throw line with U-M holding an 84-79 lead with 1:31 left. As a freshman in the 2013-14 season, he took over the point guard spot vacated by Trey Burke, who left early for the National Basketball Association.

Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer against MI to cover the points spread in Las Vegas.

Starting out wearing practice jerseys because all of its gear was left behind on the stranded aircraft, MI overcame an up-and-down regular season last week to win four games in as many days in Washington D.C.to cop the school’s first Big Ten Tournament title since 1998.

They’re at a disadvantage in coaching and at lack of a superstar, but Miami is just a better team. “We felt we took the pedal off the metal a little bit in the second, but after a good first period it put us in a good spot to be successful the rest of the game”.

Juwan Evans scored 23 points and Jeffrey Carroll had 19 to lead Oklahoma State (20-13), but the nation’s eighth-highest scoring team just couldn’t keep up with Michigan’s 3-point barrage.

Chris Solari, who covers Michigan State for the Detroit Free Press, joined Justin Rose on Sports Buzz Live Friday morning to talk about where Michigan State could have problems.

DID YOU KNOW: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has experienced plenty of postseason success in his 22 seasons with the Spartans.

Walton had his hands full Friday trying to keep up with Evans, who is not so much a Mercedes but a Formula I auto.

“It was fun to see a bunch of guys with their character, getting down like that and bouncing back”. I think in the last month this team has risen up.