Spartans eliminate No. 2 Marquette
Tom Izzo leaned on star guard and native New Yorker Tyson Walker to get Michigan State to Madison Square Garden for the Sweet 16.
Walker, a fourth-year player who grew up in Westbury on Long Island, delivered against No. 2 Marquette in March Madness on Sunday night, scoring 23 points and punctuating Michigan State’s 69-60 victory with a steal and his first collegiate dunk late in the game in Columbus, Ohio.
Walker wants to make sure his 68-year-old, Hall of Fame coach has a quintessential Big Apple experience.
“It means everything,” said Walker, who played two years at Northeastern before transferring. “Just growing up, seeing everything, playing at the Garden. Just to make those shots, look over, see my dad, see how excited he was. That means everything. And I just owe Coach some pizza now. And a cab ride.”
Joey Hauser — a Marquette transfer — had 14 points and A.J. Hoggard had 13 as seventh-seeded Michigan State (21-12) took over in the last three minutes.
This one was particularly meaningful. Izzo became the face of a grieving school where three students were killed in a campus shooting on Feb. 13.
“It’s been a long year,” an emotional Izzo said in a courtside interview. “I’m just happy for our guys.”
Florida Atlantic 78, Fairleigh Dickinson 70:
Johnell Davis scored 29 points, Alijah Martin added 14 and the Owls (33-3) ended the Knights’ magical March by outlasting the No. 16 seed in Columbus.
The ninth-seeded Owls needed everything they had to put away the Knights (2116), who stunned top-seeded Purdue on Friday in just the second 16-over-1 upset in men’s tournament history.
It will be FAU, not FDU, playing Tennessee in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
“My team just believed in me,” Davis said. “It’s just a dream come true.”
Kansas State 75, Kentucky 69:
Markquis Nowell scored 23 of his 27 points after halftime, and Kansas State overcame a horrid start from outside by hitting a couple of clutch threepointers while knocking off Kentucky in Greensboro, N.C.
The win sends thirdseeded Kansas State (25-9) to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2018, and it came thanks to a series of big shots that finally pushed the team through in a tight game.
Kansas State missed its first 13 three-pointers and sat at two for 17 for the game when the outside shots started falling.
There was Nowell burying a three against Cason Wallace to bring Kansas State within 60-59, followed a bit later by Ismael Massoud burying one from the right wing at the 2:21 mark that gave Kansas State the lead for good at 64-62.