INDIANAPOLIS — A game like this needed divine intervention.
Michigan State and Wisconsin were locked in an ugly national championship semifinal game last night in the RCA Dome. The Big Ten foes, meeting for the fourth time this season, knew each other so well that a game of HORSE would have been more exciting.
The Final Four needed a savior. It needed Morris Peterson, who earlier this week was in Mississippi for his grandmother Clara Mae Spencer’s funeral. So when he
drained one of two key 3-pointers in the second half of the Spartans’ 53-41 win, Peterson pointed skyward.
“After I made a shot I pointed up to just let her know that, you know, she was watching me,” said Peterson. “I just wanted to make an extra effort to let her know that I feel her presence.”
What a second-half performance Spencer’s grandson turned in. Peterson scored 16 of his game-high 20 points in leading the Spartans to tomorrow night’s national championship game. The Spartans (31-7) will face Florida (29-7), a 71-59 winner over North Carolina last night.
“A lot of people ask me how would he play dealing with his grandmother’s death,” said teammate Mateen Cleaves. “People can see how he played. I think she was with him out there. She carried some of those shots for him.”
Peterson has been many things this season for the Spartans — their best offensive player, their most improved defensive player, a deciding force on the boards. But Peterson has always left the role of emotional and team leader to Cleaves.
Cleaves was nowhere to be seen last night, but Peterson played like a man possessed. When he scored 10 points in a 13-2 spurt to open the second half that put the Spartans in control at 32-19, he exhorted his teammates, challenging them to break free from the bonds of Wisconsin’s defense.
None of them seemed capable of doing so, so Peterson did it himself. He went to the basket with abandon. He drew fouls. He hit jumpers. He shouted encouragement to teammates. He drained a 3 with 8:43 left that gave the Spartans a commanding 37-22 lead.
“I looked in his eyes and saw the look he had on his face,” said teammate Aloysius Anagonye. “He was ON!”
When Peterson drained a 3 with 3:48 left, giving Michigan State a 45-29 lead, he turned to the Michigan State fans where his father, Morris, and mother, Valerie, a former basketball coach at Alabama State, were seated. Clara Mae Spencer, 72, was there in spirit. And any spirit the Badgers (22-14) had left was gone.
“When he got those two 3s, they were daggers in our back,” said Wisconsin forward Andy Kowske.
It was a game that set back Final Four hoops. Michigan State had beaten Wisconsin three times this season — 61-44, 59-54 and 55-46. The teams were so familiar that every time a play was called, players went to the same spots.
“To beat them four times, I take my hat off to my players,” said Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. “I think it took a gallant effort, especially in the second half.”
The familiarity made for a horrific first half in which the teams combined for 12 field goals and four assists. Michigan State, led by Peterson, gave us reason to hope that offense would be a part of this national semifinal. The Spartans used a 9-2 run to extend a 19-17 halftime lead to 28-19.
Peterson was the first player to realize that in this bumper car of a Big Ten semifinal, the best chance at scoring was to go to the offensive boards. He converted two putbacks and then posted up Kirk Penney and foul-troubled Mike Kelley for an easy layup.
Peterson, clearly the most talented player on the court, took it upon himself to restore offense, if not order. He was fouled on a drive to the basket and converted two free throws. Then he stuck a foul-line jumper.
“He wanted the ball,” said Izzo. “Very seldom has Pete really asked for the ball. I think that’s my fault. When he was a freshman I used to kid him about how many shots he took. We kind of molded him. Now he almost becomes too unselfish. I think Morris realizes, like all seniors do, that the end is near and he’d sure like to go out on a positive note.”
There was little positive for the Badgers. They only placed one player in double figures, Roy Boone with 18. After Boone scored on an offensive rebound with 13:55 left, the offensively challenged Badgers went into a slump that was horrible even by their standards. They went more than six minutes without a point as Michigan State opened a 17-8 lead by scoring eight straight points.
This was Wisconsin’s worst-case scenario. It had fallen behind early and no one seemed capable of stepping up on offense.
But as has been the case all season, the Badgers fought back with their tenacious defense. Michigan State failed to score a field goal in the final 11:42 of the half, missing 12 straight shots. The Spartans had one assist in the first half.
And Wisconsin’s offense was, well, Wisconsin’s offense. The Badgers shot 28.6 percent. The Spartans, 25 percent.
Good thing the NCAA signed that $6 billion contract with CBS before the start of the tournament.
