, who'll face Big Ten rival, 10th-seeded Minnesota, on Saturday in search of their first trip to the Sweet 16 in four years. Michigan State throttled the Gophers 79-55 in East Lansing back on Feb. 9.Bradley (20-15) gave the Big Ten champions all they could handle, though.It was a one-possession game until Matt McQuaid drilled a crucial 3 to put Michigan State ahead 61-55 with 3:31 left. Aaron Henry followed with a layup to cap a 9-0 run.Darrell Brown hit a 3 for Bradley to make it 65-60. But the Braves were forced to put the Spartans at the line - where they almost couldn't miss.''The first game is always tough,'' Winston said. ''That was a really good team. (In the) second half we kind of prided ourselves in dominating the game and doing what we do best, and that's rebounding and getting stops.'' Bradley surged to a 35-34 halftime lead by shooting 6 of 9 from 3-point range. The Spartans made some of their own luck early in the second half, reeling off 10 straight points in less than two minutes to seize control. Bradley answered with eight straight of its own, though, to retake the lead, 51-50.Elijah Childs scored 19 points and Brown had 17 for the Braves, who went just 3 of 12 from beyond the arc in the second half.''I don't think there were many teams that could have beat us today. We ran into one that could,'' Bradley coach Brian Wardle said.THE BIG PICTUREMichigan State: Spartans fans no doubt had flashbacks to 2016, when Michigan State lost to 15th-seeded Middle Tennessee State. Michigan State epitomized the term ''survive and advance'' on a day when the shots just weren't falling. The Spartans were just 5 of 19 on 3s.Bradley: The Braves posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in 10 years, won the Missouri Valley tournament for the first time in 31 years and terrified the Spartans for about 38 minutes. Regardless of Thursday's result, this season will be remembered fondly in Peoria.FIERY IZZOThe fiery Izzo was at it again for much of the game. He lit into Henry, a freshman, during a timeout, first running up to the guard as he came off the court and tapping him in the stomach while in a fit of rage. It continued during the huddle when he lunged at Henry and had to be settled down by other players.HELLO OLD FRIENDSaturday's Minnesota-Michigan State matchup will be the earliest that two Big Ten teams have ever met in the NCAA Tournament. The only time that two Big Ten teams have played before the regional finals was in 1980, when Purdue beat Indiana in the Sweet 16. There hasn't been an all-Big Ten matchup in any round since Michigan State beat Wisconsin in the Final Four in 2000. But it was tough to avoid such a scenario when the league sent a record eight teams to the tournament.HE SAID IT''He does so much for this team the way he leads and controls the game. His passing ability and vision in addition to his scoring, he gets everybody on the court open. You've got to be ready for his passes,'' McQuaid said about Winston.--- Sports Writers Dave Campbell and Jenna Fryer contributed to this report.---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/MarchMadness and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Mar 19, 2019Michigan State took at least a few minutes Sunday night and early Monday to scratch its head and wonder how the chips fell where they did.But it didn't take long for the Spartans to start dialing in on the next opponent, shrugging off bracket envy to focus on branding the Bradley Braves, a 20-win team from the Missouri Valley Conference.The Spartans followed a Big Ten regular-season championship by winning the conference tournament title on Sunday. While the club was holding out hope for a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, Michigan State drew the No. 2 seed in the East Region and will take on No. 15 Bradley on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa."Seeding and bracket concerns are comparably minor topics when you really look at the big picture," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "Everyone always spends the first few days talking about the bracket, talking about the seedings, then Shazam, the tournament starts and there's 10 upsets in the first two weeks and sometimes the first week, and it all kind of evens out."This is what I've decide we're looking at -- we're a championship team despite having the smallest margin of error because we focused on what is immediately in front of us. We're gonna do the same and focus on Bradley." Michigan State (28-6) is in the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd straight season, the third longest active streak behind Kansas (30) and Duke (24). Some believe the Spartans got a tough draw as the No. 6 overall seed being placed in the same region as Duke, the top overall seed.But Izzo and the Spartans have been overcoming obstacles all season, losing Joshua Langford to injury midway through the season, getting junior center Nick Ward back from a broken hand last weekend and watching junior wing Kyle Ahrens suffer a nasty sprained ankle that will likely end his season."I'm appreciative that I'm in the NCAA tournament," Izzo said. "It's been 22 straight years, and not one of those 22 years have I taken anything for granted. I think it's apropos that maybe this team has been through adversity all year, and so another curve has been thrown - unfortunately, it's not the S-curve. And I will play whoever they tell me to play - I'll play them any place, anywhere, any time, just like I've done my entire career." It's an entirely different world for Bradley, the tournament champions of the Missouri Valley Conference. Since the MVC title was in the bag days before the Big Ten tournament tipped off, the Braves are definitely rested.They're also more than ready to get back on the court. During the week off, the private university in Central Illinois made national headlines by barring a longtime reporter from the team with a claim he failed to "promote the Bradley brand." Coach Brian Wardle, in his fourth season, has the Braves (20-14) in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 after winning the conference tournaments, beating last year's Cinderella, Loyola Chicago, along the way."To celebrate with our fans was great," Wardle said. "I mean the roar we had, the joy on everyone's faces, it's been a while. Thirteen years is a long time. Three in 31 years is along time." Bradley has faced Michigan State four times in its history, losing all four, including three straight from 2006-08. However, the Braves are still ready for the next step.And you can bet the Braves know all about Michigan State's troubles getting out of the first weekend of the tournament, including a loss to No. 15 Middle Tennessee State in the first round in 2016."Finally putting a name all week to the question, 'Who you guys gonna play? Where you going?'" senior forward Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye told the ABC affiliate in Peoria, Ill. "Now we know we're playing Michigan State, now we know we're going to Des Moines, Iowa, and it's just fun. We know with certainty, we know what's happening and we can prepare and get excited." One area the Braves will need to have locked down in Iowa on Thursday is rebounding. A furious rally to beat Northern Iowa in the MVC title game was nearly undone by BU's inability to limit UNI's second-chance looks. More of the same against the Spartans is a sure ticket out of the NCAA Tournament.--Field Level Media
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