AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Here we go again for Michigan State. Make it to the NCAA Tournament, prepare for any possibility in the first two games, then focus on the next stop.
It’s a March tradition for coach Tom Izzo and the Spartans.
Gary Harris scored 16 of his career-high 23 points in the first half and third-seeded Michigan State pulled away for a 70-48 victory over sixth-seeded Memphis yesterday, putting Izzo in the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in six years and the 11th time in his career.
“We can enjoy it on the bus ride home,” Michigan State’s Adreian Payne said before the team’s 90-mile ride back to campus. “Once we get back to East Lansing, it’s going to be time to work.”
The Spartans (27-8) will play the winner of today’s Duke-Creighton game on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Michigan State and the winner of today’s Kansas-North Carolina game will be the only schools to make it to the round of 16 five times in the last six years, according to STATS LLC. Date it back a little more, and the Spartans and Blue Devils are the only teams to make it to the regional semifinals in at least 10 of the last 15 seasons.
“The way it’s changed since 2000 is, a high seed used to get you out of the first weekend,” Izzo said. “Now it barely gets you out of the first game, as we’re all seeing.”
Izzo improved to 18-3 in the second game at an NCAA tournament site, proving again he gets his players prepared to play very well with only one day to prepare.
The Spartans’ top post players — Payne and Derrick Nix — combined for 27 points and 18 rebounds. Payne had a career-high five blocks, boosting his stock if he skips his senior season to enter the NBA draft.
The Tigers (31-5) had advanced in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in coach Josh Pastner’s four seasons. Memphis’ Geron Johnson scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half, and Joe Jackson finished with 12 points.
The Conference USA champions are headed home because they struggled to stop Harris on the outside or his teammates inside all game.
With only Gonzaga going into the tourney with more wins, Memphis’ D.J. Stephens insisted his team is one of the best in the country even after it was easily eliminated.
“No disrespect, but we know that we are a better team than Michigan State,” the high-flying forward said after scoring three points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking four shots. “We just gave this game away.”
Pastner said the Spartans had a lot to do with that.
“They’re good enough to win the whole national championship,” he said.“It was just miscommunication with the ball screen and stuff, so we went at it,” Nix said. “We’re over it. We won the game and let it go.”
Michigan State led by as many as 13 in the first half, creating that cushion when Harris made his fifth shot — and fourth 3-pointer — with 7:59 left.
Memphis responded with a 12-2 run to pull within three, and the Spartans led 32-29 at halftime.
But the Tigers fell off the pace in the second half because they were overmatched physically by a Big Ten power after going undefeated during their regular season in Conference USA.
Keith Appling, the Spartans’ leading scorer, left the game with just over eight minutes left when his right shoulder took the brunt of Johnson’s drive into the lane.
Appling said he’ll be ready to play in the next round.
“It was very painful, but I could’ve gone back in if I had to,” he said.
Before Appling was hurt, he had a towel thrown at him by Nix, his teammate since high school, in a heated huddle during a timeout.