CLEVELAND – It was an all-too-familiar scene.
Michigan State basketball once again took a punch in the mouth and went into halftime facing a come-from-behind situation.
Jase Richardson’s shots weren’t falling. Not many were from outside. The Spartans looked rattled, and New Mexico rode the wave to a 10-point lead midway through the first half.
Tom Izzo and his team didn’t panic, once again summoning up the resolve that has defined the season. And a game that, on paper, looked like it would be a track meet turned into yet another all-out fight for points and NCAA tournament survival.
The heroics came in different forms, a true measure of MSU’s strength in numbers. Big plays in the paint from Szymon Zapala. A second-half scoring outburst from Frankie Fidler. Carson Cooper crashing the boards. All three defending the Lobos like madmen. Richardson, scoreless for more than 38 minutes, doing the little things like driving and dishing and getting his hands on passes.
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Second-seeded MSU rallied once again to move on in the South region of the NCAA tournament with a 71-63 victory Sunday night at Rocket Arena. Izzo is heading to his 16th Sweet 16 in his 27th consecutive NCAA appearance and the second in the last three years.
Jaden Akins scored 16 points, Tre Holloman added 14 and Fidler had 10 points. That helped offset a 1-for-10 shooting performance by Richardson, who scored all six of his points in the last 1:32 to help No. 2 seed MSU (29-6) win its 10th game in the last 11.
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The Spartans will face 6-seed Mississippi on Friday at 7:09 p.m. at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Honorable mention All-American point guard Donovan Dent had 14 points and six assists for New Mexico (27-8), while Nelly Junior Joseph had 16 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:12 to play. Mustapha Amzil had 14 points but just two in the second half.
Izzo is now 58-25 in his 27th consecutive NCAA appearance and 30th season as head coach.
Buy tickets to Michigan State’s game vs Ole Miss in the Sweet 16Poor starts continue
For the second straight NCAA game, seventh-ranked MSU absorbed a big blow from the outset.
New Mexico came out sizzling, scoring the first seven points to stagger the Spartans. While they handled Dent in the early stages, there wasn’t an answer for Amzil’s inside-out attack. The 6-foot-9 product of Finland hit a hook shot in the initial run, then drained a 3-pointer and a pair of layups.
Meantime, MSU’s perimeter offense struggled with the Lobos’ length. And when Dent got his first bucket at 9:09 of the half, the Spartans found themselves in an all-too-familiar position, trailing by 10 points.
Holloman kept them afloat in that stretch, with a 3-pointer and by attacking off the dribble. And Fidler, after driving to get fouled and hitting both free throws, hit a cutting Akins for a dunk with 7:45 left to generate some must-need momentum and energy for MSU.
After Amzil hit his second 3-pointer of the half with 4:41 to go, finishing with 12 first-half points, New Mexico was 11-for-18 from the field and up nine. But the Spartans’ defense started locking in and getting stops, squelching the Lobos into a 1-for-10 finish from that bucket.
More penetration buckets from Coen Carr, Akins and Holloman, then an alley-oop from Jeremy Fears Jr. to Akins gave MSU its first answer with an 8-0 run to cut it to a point. The Spartans went into the break down 31-29, their 10th time in the last 14 games going into the locker room trailing at halftime.
Adapting and adjusting the theme again
One of Izzo’s biggest themes all season has been adapting and adjusting. And MSU did so to start the second half, with a decision to put Carr in the lineup in place of Kohler.
That meant keeping Zapala on the floor after he started the second half against Bryant on the bench. And the senior transfer put together an electric sequence in the first two minutes, with two credited offensive rebounds but he got his hands on a few others to keep possessions alive. He tipped in the first bucket, then Carr delivered a big block and ran on the break, getting fouled and making two free throws. Akins again took off in transition after a defensive stop, and New Mexico coach Richard Pitino called timeout with the Spartans on a 6-0 run over the first 2:47 to take their first lead at 35-31.
Joseph started to assert himself in the paint, and his layup capped an 8-2 run that gave the Lobos the lead back, but MSU countered with seven straight points. An Akins 3-pointer with 13:12 to go force Pitino into another timeout with the Spartans up 44-39.
Joseph’s follow dunk with 8:36 left off a Dent miss cut it back to a two-point game, but the New Mexico forward got whistled for his fourth foul a second later and had to go to the bench.
Fidler delivered six straight points, and Richardson’s drive and kickout to Holloman for a 3-pointer put MSU ahead nine with 3:50 to play.
Then Richardson got a deflection on a Lobo inbound pass for to a steal on an inbound pass, getting fouled on a 3-point try at the other end. His three free throws with 1:32 to play put the Spartans ahead by 10. He added a put-back through a foul for a three-point play with 49.7 ticks remaining, and grabbed a defensive board to run out the clock in the waning seconds.
Cooper had five of his eight rebounds after halftime, while Carr had eight points and six boards. Zapala had four points and five rebounds in just 10:46 of court time, as all nine Spartans who played scored.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
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