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March 26, 2000 By Mark Alesia SportsLine.com Senior Writer |
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It was a Final Four-type game. Heck, maybe that
was the national championship. If the local auto industry could
have found a way to harness the energy at the Palace of Auburn Hills, nobody
would be talking about gas prices.
After Michigan State earned a trip back to the Final Four by defeating Iowa
State 75-64, somebody thrust a plain white card and a black marker at
Spartans guard Charlie Bell Michigan State fights its way past Iowa State Iowa State coach loses his cool with game on the line Notes: Wisconsin a familiar foe to Spartans Video: NCAA Tournament highlights Audio: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is very thankful to advance to the Final Four Audio: MSU's Morris Peterson says the Spartans battled hard to get the win Audio: Iowa State's Marcus Fizer says Michigan State deserved to win Elite Eight team reports and analyses NCAA Tournament schedule and results
. Sitting in front of his locker, he was asked to
sign just his autograph, not his number. It would be used to build a graphic
for CBS' coverage of the Final Four.
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"Wow," Bell said, shrugging in a manner that suggested he wasn't as impressed with the request as the person making it.
These guys have been there. Anybody picking against them?
Go ahead, turn up the pressure. Give their coach a technical foul with 5:49 left, which Iowa State turned into a 59-52 lead. Torture Michigan State guard Mateen Cleaves by putting him on the bench with four fouls late in the game. Make him sit and watch part of what he calls "winnin' time."
Call them heavy favorites to win the national championship. Let the fans of their next opponent, Wisconsin, bring some of those hunting jackets for the Spartans. Let them turn the tables and shoot at the guys who can't be missed in the bright neon orange.
"Two years ago, we wanted to get to this point, where everybody wanted to beat us," forward Andre Hutson said. "Now we're there. We can't turn back now."
"When we get down, we pull together," forward Morris Peterson said.
Too bad the same can't be said for inexperienced Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy, the recent recipient of a $9 million contract. In the biggest game of his life, he melted down with a pair of technical fouls with 9.9 seconds left, taking a walk of shame off the floor after being ejected.
Yeah, it was an emotional situation, only minutes from the Final Four. Yeah, there were some questionable calls, including Marcus Fizer's fourth foul away from the ball on offense. And there was a really puzzling call that ended in a cop out, a double foul. But nothing excuses Eustachy's childish outburst, his bumping of an official and his walking to center court to continue his rant.
It wasn't worthy of the game the Cyclones played, and he wasn't nearly contrite enough afterward.
Meanwhile, Michigan State's classy coach Tom Izzo searched for superlatives.
"That was the most incredible game I've been involved with since I've been at Michigan State in that both teams just battled and battled and battled," said Izzo, a 14-year veteran at the school, including the past five as head coach. "These guys reached down and found something when both teams had little left."
Two plays are worth looking at individually. After the controversial double-foul call -- when Iowa State's Paul Shirley did or did not charge into Bell -- there was a time out with 3:43 remaining.
Bell talked to Izzo on the bench.
"I said, 'What did I do?'" Bell said. "He said, 'Oh, don't worry about it. You're going to hit the next three.' I hit a two and he told me later, 'It was supposed to be a three.'"
Izzo was kidding. It gave Michigan State a 62-61 lead, and the Spartans never trailed the rest of the game.
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| Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves hangs from the rim after helping cut down the net.(AP) |
On Michigan State's next possession, after a missed shot by Iowa State and a time out, Cleaves threw a lob to Peterson, who snuck behind Jamaal Tinsley and slammed it emphatically for a 64-61 lead.
Iowa State couldn't hang with Michigan State the rest of the way.
"You could see it in their eyes," Bell said. "They didn't play that many guys, and they started to walk the ball up the court. That's when we went in for the kill."
Killing the Spartans before they hoist a national championship trophy will be difficult. Utah had a six-point lead against them early in the second half in the second round. Syracuse had a 14-point lead early in the second half in the regional semifinals. Iowa State had them down by seven with 5:49 left.
"We took the best shot from everybody and we're still standing," Bell said.
Still standing from a very high perch.
"The pressure's been there since the first magazine came out, and that's what makes what these guys did so incredible," Izzo said. "The first one or two magazines had us picked as national champs, No. 1 in the country. We lived with that, we battled through the injuries. These guys ... they deserve exactly what they have."