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March 19, 2000 By Mark Alesia SportsLine.com Senior Writer |
MINNEAPOLIS -- According to one sign in the crowd at the Metrodome, it's not March Madness but "Marcus Madness." After Iowa State defeated Auburn, thousands of Cyclones fans in the stands chanted, "One more year! One more year!"
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Once again, though, Iowa State All-American Marcus Fizer insisted on deflecting attention after scoring a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds.
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"On the way to the game, a lady came up to me with a Sports Illustrated," Fizer said of the magazine that has his picture on the cover. "She said, 'So you're the one all the hoopla's about?' I said, 'No, it's about my team.'
"Everybody tries to identify me as the Cyclones. It was a win for the guys next to me (on the news conference podium) and in the locker room. I hope they'll continue to play me that way. Continue to hold me to six points in the first half. Stevie (Johnson) and Jamaal (Tinsley) and Michael (Nurse) will light it up."
Fizer was 1-of-8 shooting from the floor in the first half. He was 6-of-9 in the second half.
Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said the plan was to play zone after makes and man-to-man after misses.
"It's difficult to zone in transition," Ellis said. "In the second half, when we weren't making our shots, we couldn't play zone. As long as we were making shots in the first half, we were able to get into our zone. The game plan was perfect in the first half. It didn't waver in the second half, but our offense didn't allow us to get into the zone."
Fizer said he tries to not to talk about himself on the court, either. Asked about words that he apparently exchanged with an Auburn player in the first half, Fizer said it couldn't have been anything nasty.
"If I do any talking, it's late in the game and there's no way we're going to lose," he said.
Talking about Tinsley
Iowa State guard Jamaal Tinsley continued to emerge from a relative unknown nationally to a player making a mark on the tournament.
Tinsley had a pair of three-pointers that broke a 43-43 tie, and the Cyclones never trailed again.
"They were tremendous back-breakers for us," Auburn's Daymeon Fishback said.
Tinsley finished with 12 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and two blocked shots. His scoring down the stretch in the first round helped Iowa State pull away from Central Connecticut State.
Tinsley isn't known as a shooter, but after the game, he was calling himself "Reggie" for Reggie Miller.
"I've got shooters on my team, and I'm not one of them," Tinsley said. "It's not a set shot. It's not a jumper. But it goes in. ... Yeah, I can light it up, man."
Young Maryland
Maryland has one senior on its roster, Matt Hahn, who played one minute in Saturday's game. Barring defections to the NBA, the rest of the team will be back next season.
"We won 25 games," coach Gary Williams said. "When you have so many young players, you don't know how good you can be. It was a great feeling to coach this team. That's why this hurts so much, because we achieved a lot this season. I'll never lose that pride in what these guys did. We didn't play like this all year."
Endnotes
- Iowa State's lack of depth was apparent again in the game. All five starters played the entire second half. The bench contributed eight points and 16 minutes.
- Cyclones guard Nurse on letting the season end: "We don't want to let the dust fall on the balls yet."
- Maryland's loss was tied for its worst margin of defeat in the NCAA Tournament. The Terrapins lost 99-64 to Indiana in the second round in 1981.
- It was UCLA's fourth-largest margin of victory in the tournament. The Bruins defeated Wyoming 109-60 in 1967, they defeated Santa Clara 90-52 in 1969 and they defeated Florida International 92-56 in 1995.