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Two of the best coaches in college basketball both came away with wins on Friday night and advanced to the Elite 8 in the process. Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals took control in the second half over N.C. State on the way to a 75-65 win. Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans came back from an early deficit to knock off the Oklahoma Sooners 62-58.
Louisville, the East region’s No. 4 seed, stayed right with No. 8-seeded N.C. State before pulling away en route to a 10-point win. Head coach Rick Pitino promised a surprise and sophomore guard Anton Gill delivered. Gill sparked a late game surge with seven points off the bench to help extend the Cardinals’ lead to 10. Forward Montrezl Harrell paced Louisville with 24 points, and the senior was clearly not ready for his college career to come to an end. With the win, Louisville now has a chance to advance to their third Final Four of the last four years.
Seventh-seeded Michigan State and Tim Izzo always seem to play their best basketball of the season in March, and that’s absolutely been the case in 2015. Junior guard Denzel Valentine was the key to the Spartans’ win, scoring 13 of his 18 points in the second half. After trailing by as much as ten in the early going, Michigan State took their first lead of the game with 9:26 remaining in the second half on a Branden Dawson turnaround jumper. The Spartans maintained the lead into the final minutes and iced their trip to the Elite Eight by knocking down clutch free throws in the game’s closing moments.
What To Watch For
This regional final features two of the best coaches in all of basketball, and the two teams will square up for the third time in the NCAA Tournament in the last seven years. Pitino moved into a tie with Syracuse’s Jim Boehim for most tournament wins among active coaches with 57.
Both teams scratch and claw for every point and Sunday’s game should be a hard-fought, back and forth game with multiple lead changes through out. Neither team is great offensively, but they make you earn every point on the defensive end.
For Louisville, Harrell and guard Terry Rozier are the two key offensive stars. The duo combined for 41 points on Friday, and Rozier, all of six-feet tall, pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds. If Michigan State can find a way to slow down those two dynamic players, they should have the advantage with overall greater talent throughout the rest of the roster.
Michigan State truly is catching fire at the right time. Branden Dawson, Travis Trice, and Denzel Valentine have come up big in the tournament for Izzo. Trice especially has been an unstoppable force on the offensive end. The senior leader dropped 24 points against the Sooners, after potting 23 in Michigan State’s upset win over Virginia. The Spartans hit nine three-pointers against Oklahoma and Louisville will need to make sure to contest and get in the face of Michigan State’s shooters from the outside if they hope to come out on the winning end on Sunday.
Prediction
Neither of these teams was expected to make it this far in the tournament, but they’ve proven to be the real deal up to this point. Michigan State had the Big Ten Tournament title in their grasps against Wisconsin on Selection Sunday, and they’ve only been improving ever since. This Michigan State team just seems to be on a mission and I can’t see Louisville being able to keep up with the trio of Valentine, Trice, and Dawson over 40 minutes. The Spartans aren’t a big team, but their swarming team defense should be able to contain Harrell in the post. The Michigan State Spartans and Tom Izzo will head to the Final Four and Indianapolis once again.
Michigan State 67 Louisville 64
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