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| | Tuesday, March 14 | |||||||||
ESPN.com | ||||||||||
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Let the record state that Mateen Cleaves cried at the Dean Smith Center, Morris Peterson became a national star here and Tom Izzo laughed out loud that he actually questioned the Big Ten for scheduling this game.
Michigan State's 86-76 victory over North Carolina on Wednesday night in the marquee matchup in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge gave people a dynamite first impression of the Spartans after they lost in near obscurity (few probably watched it) to Texas on Saturday in Puerto Rico. But the coming-out party began Tuesday night on a brooding note. Cleaves, hobbling around with a cast on his right foot with a stress fracture, walked into the Smith Center for practice, checked out the banners above that included three national titles and Jordan's retired jersey, looked down at his foot and cried. He had been the tough guy for weeks. But that was during preseason practice. Now, he was faced with watching the games he came back (instead of entering the NBA draft) to play. "He walked in here and tears just started streaming down," Izzo said. "It was his lowest point, so far." The point guard, who has been more of an inspirational leader than he ever was a scorer, tried to collect himself. He couldn't. "These are the games you play in your back yard, you yell out 3-2-1, yeah!! We beat Carolina," Cleaves said. But he stopped feeling sorry for himself by tipoff. A few minutes into the game, and a couple of points into Peterson's game-high 31, Cleaves turned to reserve Brandon Smith and called out Peterson's name. "It was his stage tonight," Cleaves said. "I told Brandon Smith, 'Hey World, this is Morris Peterson, and this is my game.' He went out and showed the world what he could do. We knew he could do it, but he showed the nation." Peterson should have been a lock for preseason All-American. But Cleaves tied up the honor. Peterson has been a scorer, but played too much in Cleaves' shadow a year ago. The spotlight's on him now. "Every time I looked over he was stomping his feet for us," Peterson said. "This win was for him. He's talked about this game for a year."Cleaves' injury pushed Peterson forward. Instead of being passive about producing, Peterson rose above his four-game, 18-point average and put North Carolina on its heels from the opening tip. He didn't rely on a jumper or 3-pointer. He was aggressively going after offensive rebounds, tearing his way through the Carolina interior as if it still hadn't arrived back from Maui. "It was my job to step up," Peterson said. "We've got a lot of younger guys here and it's my job to take the initiative."
Michigan State dominated the offensive backboard in its run to the Final Four last March. But the Spartans shied away from that in Puerto Rico. They had a chance to beat Texas but Peterson's foul trouble took away their best talent. "We got away from what got us here," Peterson said. "Michigan State basketball is about playing hard defensively and rebounding. You can control diving for loose balls and boards. You can't control missing shots." The Spartans contained North Carolina point guard Ed Cota by rotating Charlie Bell and David Thomas on him. They collapsed on Tar Heels' center Brandon Haywood, making him a nonfactor. Peterson shut down Maui MVP Joseph Forte, limiting him to a few deep 3s in the second half. And the Spartans dominated the backboard, outrebounding the Tar Heels 43-28 (including 20-9 on the offensive end). Cota said he has never seen a team come into the Smith Center playing that aggressively. But it would have helped if someone had put a hand in Peterson's face. Peterson couldn't believe he was so wide-open. Izzo was more stunned that he even tried to complain about the matchup. When the ACC and Big Ten met with ESPN, this was a natural marquee game. Michigan State and North Carolina were the favorites in each league. But Izzo didn't want another road game, not with the Great Eight next week in Chicago against Kansas, a road game at Arizona next Saturday and a road trip to Kentucky later in December. It didn't help that the Tar Heels hadn't lost a home opener since 1928 or a nonconference matchup in 55 games since losing to Iowa in '89."We thought we'd get a home game," Izzo said with a smile and a chuckle. "I didn't want to come down here. Would you? We already had so many road games. But I'm not going to bitch about it now. I had no say. I won for two years. These people won for 300 years." Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com | ALSO SEE Spartans humble Tar Heels at Dean Dome ACC/Big Ten Challenge | |||||||||
