They still win.
The physical style suited Memphis' Joey Dorsey, who contributed 13 points 12 boards, six blocks and five fouls to the cause. Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose tied for the team lead in scoring with 17.
The Bulldogs had a shot to tie it at the buzzer, but Jamont Gordon's three-point attempt wasn't close.
(5) Michigan State 65, (4) Pittsburgh 54: The elevation of East Lansing, Michigan is just 850 feet above sea level, but Tom Izzo's Spartans sure seem to feel at home in the thin mountain air.
For the second game running, Michigan State's style turned out to be perfectly suited for the mile-high city. The Spartans have a deep rotation -- which kept them fresh, and they play a very physical game -- which makes their opposition work even harder in difficult conditions.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, plays a seven-man rotation. By the midpoint of the second half, the Panthers just looked tired. Their jump shots were short. Their defensive rotations were slow. A team that never gets out hustled got out hustled.
Drew Neitzel, so quiet in the opener against Temple, paced the Spartans with 21 points.
And yes, I realized that I cursed the Panthers by naming them my adopted home town team for the duration of this tournament. Now, they'll be doing what all my other home town teams -- the Knicks, St. John's, Fordham, Manhattan, etc., -- are doing. Sitting out the post season and watching other teams play.
(3) Stanford 82, (6) Marquette 81 (OT): The clash of size against speed couldn't be settled in 40 minutes.
Stanford's big man Brook Lopez (30 point) and Marquette's dead-eye shooting wing Jerel McNeil (30 points) matched baskets through both halves and the overtime period; it took a leaner by Lopez with 1.3 seconds left in the overtime to seal the deal for Stanford.
His coach, Trent Johnson, missed an excellent ending. An excellent game, really. Johnson was ejected in the first half for being a touch... confrontational with the refs.
(2) Texas 75, (7) Miami (FL) 72: The Longhorns thought they'd closed out another win and were headed to the Sweet Sixteen. Only problem was, there were still five minutes left to play, and the Miami Hurricanes weren't quite ready to end their season. The 'Canes staged a furious comeback from a sixteen-point deficit and really made the second-seeded Longhorns sweat at the end; Miami's final inbounds pass was broken up, preventing a three-point attempt that might have tied the game.
A.J. Abrams led Texas with 26, and hit two key free-throws with 9.5 seconds remaining in the contest.
