The Spartans promised their downtrodden state something good, and boy, did they deliver.
Morgan broke out of his late-season slump with 18 points, Kalin Lucas added 21 and the smaller Spartans ran roughshod over Hasheem Thabeet and Connecticut in an 82-73 upset in the Final Four on Saturday night. The Spartans will play the winner of Villanova-North Carolina for the NCAA title Monday night, a much-needed boost for a city and state hit harder than most by the economic crisis.
It's Michigan State's first appearance in the title game since 2000, when the Spartans won their second title. And how's this for some karma? Magic Johnson, Spartan-in-chief since leading Michigan State to its first title in 1979, will present the game ball before Monday's title game along with Larry Bird.
Flashbulbs were popping as the final seconds ticked down. After shaking hands with the UConn players, the Spartans went to center court and saluted the crowd of 72,456, the largest ever for a Final Four, about two-thirds of which were wearing green. Lucas bearhugged coach Tom Izzo.
The loss is the latest blow for UConn, the best team in the country until Jerome Dyson went down with a knee injury in mid-February. The Huskies have been dealing with distractions since last May, when coach Jim Calhoun was diagnosed with his third bout with cancer, and are now facing questions about alleged recruiting violations.
The loss snapped Calhoun and Connecticut's perfect run in the Final Four. They'd made it twice before -- 1999 and 2004 -- and went on to win the title each time.
The UConn players walked slowly off the court, looking shell-shocked that their season had ended.
This was expected to be a battle of big men. UConn's Thabeet had been a one-man swat team, averaging a double-double and winning defensive player of the year in the burly Big East for a second straight year. Michigan State's Goran Suton led the equally gritty Big Ten in rebounding and had averaged a double-double in the NCAA tournament.
But the matchup never developed, with neither a factor. Izzo had said all week the Spartans planned to make the game a sprint to keep Thabeet out of his comfort zone. The 7-foot-3 junior certainly couldn't keep up. He looked gassed from the opening tipoff, leaning over, tugging on his shorts and gasping for air not even six minutes into the game.
He finished with 17 points and six rebounds. Suton, who had the main job of corraling Thabeet, didn't score his first field goal until early in the second half and finished with four points and seven boards.
Stanley Robinson and A.J. Price had 15 each for Connecticut, and Robinson added 13 rebounds.
Michigan State players Korie Lucious, left, Draymond Green (23) and Delvon Roe (10) react late in the game during their 82-73 win over Connecticut (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/4/219302