No. 6 Michigan State Beats Minnesota 66-61
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Keith Appling and Brandon Wood both scored 13 points to key No. 6 Michigan State's 66-61 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night, helping the Spartans keep their hold on first place in the Big Ten.
Draymond Green had 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Spartans (23-5, 12-3), who won their sixth straight game in February. Green's only basket of the second half was a big one, a pump-fake layup that rolled on the rim and in to tie it at 58 with 1:40 left. He was 4 for 6 from 3-point range before halftime and 1 for 8 from the field in the second half.
Austin Hollins scored 17 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range for the Gophers (17-11, 5-10), who led for more than 18 minutes of the second half until a flurry of late turnovers. They gave the ball away three times in the first half and 12 times after halftime. Julian Welch had four turnovers to offset 10 points and eight assists.
The Gophers outrebounded bigger Michigan State 33-27 and made 14 of their 15 free throws, but they still couldn't pull out a must-win game for their dying NCAA tournament hopes
Appling made six free throws over the final 32 seconds to seal the win and send the stunned Gophers to their 20th defeat in their last 26 Big Ten games..
After playing a steady game at point guard for most of the night, Welch started succumbing to the Spartans' pressure. Wood turned a steal into a dunk to cut the lead to 54-52 and had consecutive layups a little later off turnovers to bring Michigan State within 58-56. Joe Coleman was called for a double dribble. Then Green maneuvered his way inside for the tying score.
Hollins lost control of his dribble on the other end, and Appling made the first two of his clinching free throws.
Hollins hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions for the Gophers out of the gate after halftime. For the second one, Welch led a fast break and whipped a two-handed pass across the lane to the right wing. Hollins faked a defender in the air, stepped back and swished the wide-open shot for a 36-32 lead.
Michigan State went more than 5 minutes without scoring until Appling's pull-up jumper. He turned a steal on the other end into a breakaway dunk, but hanging on the rim too long got him with a technical foul to the delight of the Minnesota students. They chanted, "You can't do that!"
The Gophers led 48-39, their biggest margin of the game, after consecutive baskets inside by Rodney Williams and were still up 54-47 after three free throws by Andre Hollins, who tempted Appling to foul him on a frantic beat-the-shot-clock attempt from behind the arc.
But Wood's quick hands and quicker feet on those fast breaks got the Spartans right back within striking distance, setting up the dramatic finish.
Green gobbled up the Gophers almost all by himself in the last meeting, back home at the Breslin Center, with 22 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, one of his five 20-10-5 games this season. The Gophers shot only 18 for 47 from the field in that game, a 38.3 percent rate that's just barely above what the Spartans allow on average. They are the Big Ten leader in that category and 13th in the nation entering the week with 58.6 points allowed per game.
But the Gophers, facing a clear shortfall in both athleticism and size underneath with star Trevor Mbakwe out for the season with a knee injury, didn't back down. Deep reserve Andre Ingram gave them some big rebounds and even drew a charge on Green in the second half. Ralph Sampson III had his soft hook shot in sync. Green, the conference's leading rebounder, had only two boards at the break.
Gophers coach Tubby Smith and his staff wore blue bow ties for prostate cancer awareness. Smith was diagnosed with the disease before last season but is free of it now.
The Gophers fell to 1-11 against Michigan State under Smith. Their only win was in the 2010 Big Ten tournament.
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