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Tuesday, April 4, 2000

Spartans have last dance
Michigan State captures national championship, 89-76
By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times

Associated Press

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo (second from right) and his players celebrate Monday after defeating Florida, 89-76, to secure the school's second NCAA men's basketball championship.

INDIANAPOLIS - Sure, they insisted they could run with Florida, but after an ugly semifinal win over Big Ten counterpart Wisconsin Saturday night, some might have doubted whether Michigan State truly was capable of keeping up with the lightning-quick Gators.
   It didn't take long for those questions to be answered Monday night. The Spartans didn't just run with the Gators. They beat them at their own game.
   And they did it with a style and flair that hasn't been seen in East Lansing since a young man named Earvin "Magic" Johnson led the school to its only national championship 21 years ago.
   With Johnson, Steve Smith and lengendary ex-coach Jud Heathcote in the crowd, senior point guard Mateen Cleaves and his Michigan State teammates raced their way to title No. 2 Monday night with an 89-76 victory over Florida before 43,116 fans at the RCA Dome.
   "This is exactly what we wanted, starting in October," forward Andre Hutson said. "Not only did we want it, but also coach (Tom) Izzo wanted this."
   Cleaves, the Spartans' charismatic and unquestioned leader on the court, was simply dazzling, breaking down the Gators' vaunted full-court press with absolute ease, driving past defenders left and right and knocking down the long-range jump shots his detractors said he could not hit.
   And when he went down with an ankle injury early in the second half, a couple of longtime teammates-fellow seniors Morris Peterson and A.J. Granger -took control of the game and secured their team its first national title since 1979.
   The Spartans (32-7), a No. 1 seed and the favorite to win it all when the tournament started, weren't supposed to be able to handle Florida like this. The Gators (29-9) had depth, a high-power offense and a vaunted full-court press that wore down Duke, Oklahoma State and North Carolina in earlier tournament play.
   But they didn't have Michigan State's experience, its poise and perhaps most importantly, its All-American point guard.
   Cleaves hadn't been all that impressive through much of the tournament, shooting just 35 percent from the field entering the championship game. That ended Monday night, with a bang.
   The 6-foot-2 guard made 7-of-11 shots, drained three 3-pointers and had 18 points when he fell to the ground after getting fouled by Florida's Teddy Dupay with 16:14 left in the game.
   As the largely pro-Spartan crowd sat hushed, Izzo pled with officials to slap Dupay with an intentional foul. He even had a few choice words for the Gator sophomore, who appeared to grab Cleaves by the jersey on the fast break.
   "I probably embarrassed myself by saying one thing to him and probably shouldn't have," Izzo said. "But I didn't like the way it happened."
   Meanwhile, Cleaves was being helped off the court, whisked back to the locker room for examinations with his team leading, 55-44.
   "When he first went down, I could tell (he was hurt)," Izzo said. "He's not one of those guys that fakes an injury so his girlfriend gives him sympathy in the stands. So I knew he was hurt."
   Sensing a change in momentum, the Gators scored five quick points to cut the lead to six, but Granger quashed any hopes of a sustained rally when he sank one of his three 3-pointers, just as Cleaves returned to a huge roar from the massive crowd.
   "I was definitely going to try to come back," said Cleaves, who decided to return to school for his senior season at Michigan State, only to miss the first 13 games with a broken foot. "I told the trainer they were going to have to amputate my leg to keep me out of this one."
   He re-entered the game with 11:51 to go, and though the hobbling senior kept himself out of much of the action, Peterson and Co. more than made up for it.
   Peterson, Cleaves' hometown buddy from Flint, poured in 21 points and hit three big 3-pointers of his own down the stretch. Granger chipped in with 19 points of his own, sinking 7-of-11 shots, pacing the Spartans' blistering 56 percent overall shooting and 11-for-22 rate from 3-point range.
   "We had been in that situation before," Granger said. "We looked at each other and said, 'Let's do it.' I think we just had a confidence level in each other that when he was out we could still play."
   From the start, it was obvious this game would be played at a much quicker pace than Saturday's sluggish semifinals.
   Running up and down the court with the supposedly quicker Gators, Michigan State stormed out to score 17 points by the first television timeout with 14:24 to play in the first half. That was only two points less than the Spartans scored the entire first half against Wisconsin.
   Florida freshman guard Brett Nelson, who led the team with 13 points Saturday against North Carolina, continued his hot shooting in the championship game, nailing back-to-back 3's to get the Gators within two points at 19-17 midway through the half.
   It was as close as Florida would get, though, as Cleaves and Granger spurred a 14-3 run to extend their lead to 13 with 6:50 to play in the half.
   When Cleaves started a fast break, stopped dead in his tracks and drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key, the senior gave Michigan State a 43-32 lead it would take to the locker room.
   Pounding the ball inside to center Udonis Haslem, who scored a game-high 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting, Florida tried to mount several runs, but could not get within six points of the Spartans, even with Cleaves hobbled.
   "It's not like this is Mateen Cleaves and a bunch of spastics," forward Mike Miller said. "They're a great basketball team. They played well and they deserved to win."
   Said Gators coach Billy Donovan of the experienced Spartans: "Every time we made a run, they answered. And to me, that's a sign of a great basketball team, a sign of great leadership."
   Leadership that is embodied by a stocky point guard who worked his way from Flint, Mich., to the unanimous MVP of the Final Four.
   "This guy has the heart of a lion," Izzo said. "This is as storybook as it gets for Mateen. He has lived his dream."



Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com

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