National Sports Florida finally knocks off Michigan State

Ashland Daily Tidings (Ashland, OR — Wayback)

2003-11-28

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--> --> Florida finally knocks off Michigan State By The Associated Press Until now, Michigan State had been too much of a hurdle for Florida to overcome since the national championship game in 2000. The Spartans won that game for their second national title, then beat the Gators in a regular-season rematch last year. But sixth-ranked Florida used a smothering fullcourt press to beat the 24th-ranked Spartans 74-70 Wednesday night. "When we're playing Michigan State, I know people are talking about how it's a big rivalry," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "But it's hard to be a rivalry when you don't win." Matt Bonner's career-high 23 points led the Gators (5-1), while Brett Nelson added 15. Florida had the experience over the Spartans (4-3), who lost seven players from the team that made a third straight Final Four appearance last season. "They've got some guys who are going to be good players," Donovan said of the Spartans, who committed 20 turnovers. "But this was probably the first time some of them have seen pressure like that." Michigan State chipped a 19-point deficit to four with 18 seconds left by making four quick 3-pointers. After Chris Hill hit the final 3, the Spartans stole the inbounds pass, but missed two 3-pointers as time expired, and Florida finally had its win in this series. "Let's not be fooled by the last four minutes," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "They handed it to us." Then he talked of the Gators. "This is a potential Final Four team," he said. "What I love about them so much is they remind me of our team the last three years." In other games involving ranked teams Wednesday, it was No. 1 Duke 82, Temple 57; No. 11 Kentucky 99, VMI 57; No. 17 Marquette 73, Dayton 51; No. 20 UCLA 65, UC Riverside 50; and No. 25 Western Kentucky 78, Akron 68. Marcus Taylor led the Spartans with 17 points, and Kelvin Torbert - one of three freshmen getting big playing time for Michigan State - had 15, including two 3s during the late rally. "I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and say our experience is equivalent to theirs," Izzo said. "But I can't make experience an excuse because we've got games to win." The late rally gave the Spartans something to build on - and the Gators something to learn from. "I thought for 36 minutes we played really great basketball," Donovan said. "The last 3:49, we didn't play well. It was a good lesson." No. 1 Duke 82, Temple 57 Jason Williams had 26 points and Mike Dunleavy added 24 as the Blue Devils (7-0) rolled in the matchup of the newest Hall of Fame coaches. Lynn Greer, coming off a 47-point game against Wisconsin two days before, was hawked all night by Chris Duhon or Dahntay Jones and finished with 22 points on 8-for-23 shooting for the Owls (3-3). Williams and Dunleavy also had 10 rebounds each, while Duhon matched his career high with 11 assists. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Temple's John Chaney, who have combined for 1,272 wins and 12 league championships, were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year. No. 11 Kentucky 99, VMI 57 Tayshaun Prince scored 21 points and Keith Bogans had 16 as the Wildcats (4-1) won their fourth straight by shooting 50 percent from 3-point range and 56 percent overall. They outrebounded the visitors 50-28 and forced 23 turnovers. Jason Conley had 24 points for the Keydets (1-3), who lost their third straight. No. 17 Marquette 73, Dayton 51 Dwyane Wade scored 17 points and the Golden Eagles (8-0) continued their best start since going 10-0 in 1997-98, Wade had eight points in a 12-0 run that gave Marquette a 47-32 lead with 15:48 remaining in the game. Ramod Marshall and David Morris each had 10 points for the Flyers (3-3), who are unbeaten at home and winless on the road this season. No. 20 UCLA 65, UC Riverside 50 Jason Kapono, forced to play point guard while freshman Cedric Bozeman recovers from knee surgery, scored 18 points to lead the Bruins (3-2). Kapono had seven points in a 16-0 run that gave UCLA a 54-37 lead with 7:54 to go. Lloyd Cook had 14 points for the Highlanders (0-5), who were playing their fifth consecutive road game in their first official season in Division I. No. 25 W. Kentucky 78, Akron 68 Filip Videnov and Todor Pandov each scored 13 points for the Hilltoppers (5-2), who were playing their second game without 7-foot-1 center Chris Marcus, who's out 4-to-6 weeks with a stress fracture in his ankle. Western Kentucky, which had lost two straight, led 51-32 with 12:36 to play. David Falknor had 19 points for the Zips (2-5), who were playing their home opener. Email your... 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