Spring Break
Men knocked out in Final Four
Michigan State stays on top of rebounds to end season for Huskies, fans alike
Marc Gauthier
Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: March Madness
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On one half of the court, Raymar Morgan hugged his teammates and celebrated with the crowd.
On the other, Hasheem Thabeet sat in his seat with a towel wrapped around his head. The sweat rolling down his face could have easily been confused for tears.
After 40 minutes of back-and-forth basketball, UConn ended its season with an 82-73 loss to Michigan State in the NCAA semi-final game.
"I love my kids," said coach Jim Calhoun. "They had an incredible season. They had to start one way, add Stanley, lose Jerome, have a couple of things thrown around for the past couple weeks and yet we were in a position tonight to advance to Monday. We didn't because Michigan State took that. Give them all the credit. Tom [Izzo] is a dear friend. His team played exceptionally well."
Unlike UConn's first four NCAA Tournament games, the Huskies did not get out to a big lead in the opening minutes. Instead, Michigan State controlled the tempo and ran out to a 9-2 lead after two-and-a-half minutes of play.
UConn took the lead with 12 minutes and 45 seconds to play in the half on a layup by Kemba Walker, and took that lead as high as five points. The Spartans, using a combination of fast-break offense and offensive rebounding, never let the game get out of hand.
"Yeah, you know, they ran the ball off missed-shots and made-shots," said A.J. Price. "We were kind of surprised by how much they pushed the ball after they made baskets. I think it took us a little too long to make that adjustment. The whole first half, they did a great job of pushing after made baskets."
With 41 seconds left to play in the first half, Price stole the ball from Marquise Gray and started off a fast-break opportunity for UConn. Craig Austrie pushed the ball up the court and with two defenders on him passed the ball to Thabeet, who sprinted the length of the court and got the and-one play to tie the game.
With four seconds to go in the half, Devlon Roe hit a runner in the lane for the Spartans to give them a two-point lead at the end of the half.
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