Spring Break
One more 'road' block
Final Four pits UConn against Michigan State 90 miles from MSU's campus
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: Sports
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Coming into the 2008-2009 campaign, the Huskies were just 8-12 on the road in the past two seasons.
This year, however, UConn reversed that trend when it lost just one away game (at Pitt on March 4) and established itself as a mentally tough team that could win in any environment. At then-No. 22 Notre Dame - check. The Huskies snapped a 45-game home winning streak for the Irish. At then-No. 5 Louisville - check, in a big way, 68-51. At then-No. 15 Marquette - check plus (A.J. Price's 35 points warrant the "plus.")
The Huskies (31-4) have one more roadblock, so to speak, before they can hoist their third National Championship trophy: a Final Four matchup with Michigan State (30-6) at Ford Field in Detroit - just 90 miles from the Spartans' on-campus arena - Saturday at 6:07 p.m.
Ford Field, which is expected to seat over 72,000 fans for the event, is by no means going to be a friendly atmosphere for UConn. It is the closest to home any Final Four team has played since Duke played in the 1988 Final Four in Charlotte.
"We expect 70,000 Michigan State fans," joked senior forward Jeff Adrien.
A.J. Price, the West Regional MVP, isn't too concerned with having to win in a rowdy (and green and white) atmosphere.
"We'll have a lot of people against us, but that's the way we like it, - us against the world," Price said. "The fans aren't out on the court playing. It will be us against Michigan State basketball."
And - all off-the-court distractions aside - the Spartans are well-equipped to give the Huskies all they can handle.
Michigan State, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, convincingly knocked off heavily-favored Louisville, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, 64-52 to advance to its fifth Final Four in 11 years. The Spartans were an impressive 15-3 in Big Ten play this season and have won 10 of their last 11 games.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
SpartanToJo
posted 4/03/09 @ 10:26 AM EST
Good luck Huskies! We are all looking forward to a great game of hoops!
Webby
posted 4/03/09 @ 4:58 PM EST
Game locations really have been annoying this year. I mean, UNC and Duke had games in the same state as their campus, for crying out loud! That's probably my biggest gripe with the tournament--the "neutral" locations aren't always so neutral. (Continued…)
Tom
posted 4/06/09 @ 11:39 AM EST
Even among the many elbows thrown by Jeff Adrien, the Spartans proved who the better team really is. Amazing that guy hasn't been ejected in every game he played in. (Continued…)
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