Spartans Report: Notes, Quotes
--Tom Izzo made it very clear -- he wanted his team to sweat it out a little bit after such an inconsistent season of basketball. And he got his wish. There was heavy tension in the air Sunday night in the lounge adjoining the Michigan State locker room, where players, coaches and family members gathered to see if the Spartans got an NCAA bid.
Michigan State was the 64th team announced out of 68, and when it happened. the room seemed to exhale at once.
"Yeah, I was nervous," senior G Mike Kebler said. "You just never know."
--Michigan State will be playing in its 14th straight NCAA Tournament, the third-longest streak in college basketball. Kansas extended its streak to 22 years, and Duke extended its streak to 16 years.
"I think it's probably more important than I gave it credit," Izzo said of keeping the streak alive. "What we're always aiming to do here is have a model of some consistency.
COACH
Tom Izzo, 16 years at Michigan State, 16th postseason appearance (14th NCAA)
KEYS TO VICTORY
The Spartans have cleaned up the turnovers after swimming in them early in the season, and MSU's rebounding and defense have been better over the past month. Michigan State's biggest key at this point is making some jump shots. They fell in Friday's win over Purdue, and they didn't fall in Saturday's loss to Penn State.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We've got a big fella inside too. Maybe we can move this game to Japan and have a wrestle off." -- Coach Tom Izzo, on the matchup between UCLA C Josh Smith (6-10, 305) and Michigan State C Derrick Nix (6-9, 285)
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