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Tampa subregional
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 2003
BEST PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS: The Spartans have a chance to be frightening. They graduate two seniors, only one of whom started, and return a core of freshmen and sophomores, all of whom played huge minutes this season. Starting guards Alan Anderson, Kelvin Torbert and Chris Hill are sophomores, and forward/centers Paul Davis and Erazem Lorbek are freshmen. Freshman guard Maurice Ager was second on the team with 23 3-pointers. "The play of Paul Davis and Erazem Lorbek has come a long way," coach Tom Izzo said. "I knew, once Ager got things going, he was going to prove to be a key player in this offense."
WORST CASE OF HOMECOMING: He snubbed Michigan State to sign with Florida, leaving MSU faithful curious why one of the state's best players would go so far from home. Sunday, he appeared to be a bit homesick. Gators point guard Anthony Roberson, who entered averaging 12.7 points, went 0-for-6 from the field (all 3-pointers) and routinely looked like he was playing in another gym.
BEST VERSION OF "DUNK YOU VERY MUCH!": The Spartans clearly were willing to run with the Gators and pound them inside. In one three-minute sequence toward the end of the first half, MSU had three dunks in four field goals as they opened a 34-23 lead. They kept the intimidation factor going, dunking their first two field goals of the second half.
WORST SCOUTING REPORT: Either there was little film of Lorbek or all of it is hidden in his hometown of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Whatever the reason, the Gators apparently knew little of his deadly outside shooting or his ability to rebound in traffic. Left alone at the top of the key, Lorbek hit two key 3-pointers in a first-half surge and finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
BEST HUSTLE PLAY: Gators freshman forward Matt Walsh may have had the hustle play of the night. With 8:04 left and MSU's lead growing in leaps and bounds, Walsh chased a loose ball out of bounds by diving into the stands and tossing the ball back into play. One problem: He stepped on the line.
BEST OPENING ACT: It wasn't as good as the 20-minute sequence at the start of Saving Private Ryan, but what the Spartans did in the first half against the Gators was similarly unbelievable. With 3s, layups and dunks, the Spartans were 14-of-20 from the field (70 percent).
BEST SUPPORTING CAST: Though the Gators have the reputation for having depth and using waves of players, it was the Spartans who got excellent help off the bench. In the first half, MSU used 11 players and got 11 points off the bench. While both teams had cleared their benches by the final minutes of the blowout, it was MSU who got 24 points from nonstarters. Ager led with 16 points. "Our bench played well. That's what we're known for and I'm real proud of them," senior forward Aloysius Anagonye said.