MSU's huge comeback comes up short against UCLA, 78-76

When you think Tom Izzo & Michigan State basketball, you expect them to reach at least the Sweet 16 in any NCAA tournament. Unfortunately for MSU this year, even on St. Patrick's Day, the Spartans' luck ran out.

Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee scored 16 points apiece as #7 UCLA held off a late comeback by the #10 Spartans, 78-76 in the second round of the NCAA tournament in the Southeast region.

The Bruins (23-10) won despite missing 17 free throws, nine of them in the final 3:40 while the Spartans were making a barrage of 3-pointers to get back into the game. They advanced to a third-round matchup against No. 2 seed Florida, which beat 15th-seeded UC Santa Barbara 79-51.

Draymond Green led Michigan State (19-15) with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists—just the seventh official triple-double in NCAA tournament history. Durrell Summers added 15 and Spartans star Kalin Lucas finished with 11 after going the first 32 minutes without scoring.

Lucas, averaging 20.9 over his previous 14 games, missed his first eight shots before finally scoring on a steal and layup with 7:45 remaining. Unfortunately for Michigan State that first basket didn’t come until after Honeycutt and Joshua Smith keyed a 15-2 burst that had rebuilt UCLA’s lead to 23 after the Spartans pulled within 10 early in the second half.

Returning most of its key players from last season, Michigan State began the 2010-11 ranked No. 2 but sputtered against a tough non-conference schedule and really never hit its stride in the Big Ten, either. The inconsistency left Izzo and his players wondering if the Spartans would even extend its string of consecutive NCAA appearances to 14—third longest in the nation behind Kansas (22) and Duke (16).


In other second round action...

- #13 Morehead State pulled off the big upset of the day by defeating #4 Louisville, 62-61. Morehead State's Demonte Harper made a 3-pointer with 4.2 remaining in regulation, followed by their center Kenneth Faried litteraly blocking Louisville's chances of winning as time expired.

- In a contest that could've gone either way, #8 Butler earned a hard fought victory over #9 Old Dominion, 60-58. Butler's Matt Howard became the hero when he made his last lay-up count at the buzzer.

- #7 Temple survived against #10 Penn State, 66-64, when Juan Fernandez sank an 18-footer for the Owls with 0.4 seconds left for the lead & eventually the win.

- It was indeed a catfight in the east region as the #4 Kentucky Wildcats escaped an upset against the #13 Princeton Tigers, 59-57. Kentucky's Brandon Knight made the lay-up with 2 seconds left to give the Wildcats the win.

- Not necessarily an upset, but #12 Richmond pulled off a big win against #5 Vanderbilt, 69-66 with their stellar defense at the end.

- Other winners include West Virginia, Pittsburgh, San Diego State, Florida, BYU, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Gonzaga, & Kansas State.


Today, Oakland & Michigan will kick off more 2nd round tournament action, beginning.at 12 pm. In the west region, #13 Oakland faces #4 Texas at 12:15 pm in Tulsa, OK while the #8 Wolverines tangle with #9 Tennessee at 12:40 in Charlotte, NC.