Korie Lucious and his Michigan State teammates received the official word on the status of teammate Kalin Lucas at halftime of Sunday’s second-round NCAA men’s basketball tournament showdown against fourth-seeded Maryland at the Arena.
It wasn’t good.
Lucas, MSU’s junior point guard, was finished – not just for the game, but for the season – after apparently aggravating an old ankle injury a few minutes earlier. The Spartans were about to return to the floor to deal with another 20 minutes of Maryland’s suffocating, full-court defensive pressure without the trusted and steady Lucas
“It was devastating to see ‘K’ go down,” Lucious later said. “And when they told me he wasn’t going to return, I knew I had to step up my leadership role.”
Which is exactly what the 5-foot-11 sophomore guard did – not only in handling the Terrapins’ second-half defensive pressure, but in calmly stroking the winning shot.
Lucious, just moments after Greivis Vasquez had put Maryland ahead on a tough leaner in the lane with 6 seconds remaining, freed himself near the top of the key on MSU’s ensuing possession and icily drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the fifth-seeded Spartans a riveting 85-83 victory that propelled them into a Sweet 16 matchup against No. 9 Northern Iowa in the semifinals of the Midwest Regional in St. Louis on Friday.
