Walton Carries Spartans into Sweet Sixteen

It was a tight game as many expected, but the #2 seeded Michigan State Spartans were able to pull off a tough victory in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon, which propelled them to their eighth Sweet Sixteen appearance in the last twelve years.

 

The story of the night, however, was the leadership shown by senior guard Travis Walton. Walton, the only four year Spartan that has never reached a Final Four under Tom Izzo, picked up the Spartans at various times throughout the game with big buckets, all adding up to a career high 18 points. His intensity on the floor was only matched by his shot making ability on an afternoon in which starting forward Raymar Morgan was only able to muster 3 points.

 

The Spartans also received big games from a multitude of players: Goran Suton picked up four fouls which limited his playing time; however, he played shut down defense while on the court and still managed 7 points and 10 boards. Additional key players included Big Ten Player of the Year Kalin Lucas with 10 points and 7 assists. Durrell Summers came of the bench to net 11 points and 8 boards, and Draymond Green was able to score 7 points and nab 9 rebounds.

 

The team effort shown by the Spartans was just enough to overcome a feisty effort by a young USC team. The Trojans received strong performances by Leonard Washington (10 points), DeMar DeRozan (18pts.) and Nikola Vucevic (6 points) - all of whom are freshmen. However, the story of the night for USC was lack of output by Taj Gibson who was only able to play 23 minutes due to foul trouble, but he was also held in check by the Spartan defense when on the court; Gibson only managed 3 points.

 

Overall, tonight’s performance by the Spartans was worthy of praise. Multiple players were able to contribute and they even received some out of character performances by players such as Walton that really kept them in this game.

 

 

The Spartans will now find themselves in a rematch with the Jayhawks from Kansas. Tipoff is roughly 9:30 on Friday night.