Spartans force Cyclones into 19 turnovers
Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Michigan State's depth and defense
were too much for Iowa State to overcome.
Two nights after holding Syracuse to two points in the final
8:02 of a 75-58 victory, the Spartans held the Cyclones to a single
3-point basket over the final 4:51 to finish with a 20-3 run in a
75-64 victory Saturday night in the Midwest Regional final.
|  | | Defense was the key to the second straight Final Four trip for Morris Peterson and the Spartans. |
"It's nothing we hadn't seen. We'd seen that defense from less talented players," Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy said.
"They had everything to do with stopping Marcus (Fizer) at
times and our attempting poor shots and turnovers. They're very
talented and athletic and big, and it's tough to score over big and
talented guys."
Fizer, Iowa State's All-American forward, was held to 15 points
on 6-of-15 shooting and made just one basket in the final 11:45.
The Spartans used a committee of three against Fizer, but Andre
Hutson pulled the main duty.
"He took the challenge to play Marcus Fizer," Michigan State
guard Mateen Cleaves said. "Andre's one of the best big men in the
league and he showed it. If Andre hadn't played like he played
tonight, we wouldn't be sitting here right now."
Hutson said the plan was to keep a body on Fizer at all times.
"We did a good job of double teaming, trying to keep the ball
out of his hands and forcing him to take bad shots."
Like traveling early in the first half when trying to get past
Aloysius Anagonye, or forcing several forced shots when Hutson or
someone else was on him and misfiring on all but one of his six
3-point attempts.
The Spartans had the luxury of also putting A.J. Granger and
Anagonye on Fizer, and everyone else lent a hand when necessary.
"We knew we had to give (Hutson) help and he did a great job by
himself," Granger said.
The Cyclones committed 19 turnovers, 13 in the first half. They
only committed 12 all game in their win over UCLA. And Jamaal
Tinsley, who had 11 assists and five turnovers against the Bruins,
had only two assists and five turnovers.
As a team, the Cyclones had 19 turnovers while forcing only
eight.
"It was the key stat of the ball game," Eustachy said.
The other key stat was playing time. Michael Nurse played the
entire game for the Cyclones, Fizer played 36 minutes and three
others played more than 29 minutes.
The Spartans had three players play 35 minutes or more, but
played nine players with the game on the line while the Cyclones
used only seven.
"After we made a few big plays in the second half, we could
tell they were starting to wear down," Hutson said. "I think
that's been the key to our success all year. We wear teams down and
then in the last five minutes, we suck it up and fight through it.
"I think our defensive pressure for the whole 40 minutes is
what wears our opponents down." |
