• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Spartans earn share of title

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Tom Izzo had just become the sixth coach in Big Ten history with at least six conference championships, and he didn’t even realize it.

“Really? That’s the one thing I don’t keep track of,” Izzo said after No. 11 Michigan State beat Michigan, 64-48, on Sunday to finish the regular season in a three-way tie. “I keep track of national championships, and I want more of those.”

If Raymar Morgan can maintain his momentum, the Spartans will have a shot to give Izzo his second national title and the school its third.

Morgan scored 13 of his season-high 22 points in the first half, helping Michigan State build an 18-point lead that it used to cruise to an easy victory against its overmatched rival.

The senior forward—whose career has been marked by inconsistency—averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds over the last four games.

“If he plays like he’s been playing lately, the sky is the limit for us and we can get back to the Final Four,” teammate Kalin Lucas said.

Michigan State has advanced to the Final Four a nation-best five times in the previous 11 NCAA tournaments.

The Spartans (24-7, 14-4 Big Ten) shared the conference championship with Ohio State and Purdue, winning their second straight title and sixth since Izzo was promoted to replace Jud Heathcote for the 1994-95 season. They will be the third-seeded team at this week’s Big Ten tournament behind the top-seeded Buckeyes and Boilermakers.

“I can enjoy this one right now because it was the toughest of the six to get,” Izzo said shortly after the school’s 12th Big Ten championship banner was hoisted to the Breslin Center’s rafters.

Michigan failed to live up to high expectations, slumping to a .500 record after six games and following up a win over then-No. 15 Connecticut two months ago by going 4-9.

The Wolverines (14-16, 7-11) will have to make a stunning appearance in the Big Ten tournament final to avoid a losing record and would have to win that postseason title to earn a second consecutive bid to the NCAA tournament. They will be seeded eighth and matched up with ninth-seeded Iowa on Thursday.

n Minnesota 88, Iowa 53—Lawrence Westbrook scored 20 points and Damian Johnson had 10 points and a career-high 11 assists in what could be the seniors’ final game at Williams Arena. Devoe Joseph added 17 points for Minnesota (19-12, 9-9).

Aaron Fuller scored 16 points for Iowa (10-21, 4-14), which suffered its biggest loss of the season and lost nine of its last 11 to close out the Big Ten season.

The Gophers (18-12, 9-9) are the sixth seed and will face 11th-seeded Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

The Hawkeyes (10-21, 4-14) are seeded ninth and will face eighth-seeded Michigan in the first round. Iowa lost the final two games of the regular season by a combined 62 points, including a 27-point loss at Wisconsin.

Johnson added three blocks and three steals after he, Westbrook and Devron Bostick were honored in a pregame ceremony on Senior Day.

The Gophers jumped all over undermanned and overmatched Iowa from the outset, shooting 59 percent in the first half and hitting six of their nine attempts from 3-point range. They took control with a 17-0 run at the halfway point of the first period.

Minnesota came away with 15 points on five possessions in the burst and held the Hawkeyes without a point for 7:40 to take a 35-10 lead.

Minnesota kept pouring it on in the second half and shot 58.5 percent for the game.

The pace bogged down in the second half, and the Gophers pushed the margin as high as 37 points before the game ended. Iowa simply didn’t have the talent to compete against the up-and-down Gophers, and that’s nothing new for them.

It’s been that way all season long for coach Todd Lickliter and his Hawkeyes, who have lost 20 games in a season for the first time in school history. Iowa starts two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior, and it has looked every bit its age during a long rebuilding season.

It’s been a long year for the Gophers as well, though for entirely different reasons. They started the season with plenty of promise thanks to plenty of returning players and a banner recruiting class. But Tubby Smith has had to answer questions all year long about off-the-court issues with his players.

Forwards Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe never suited up this season because of legal entanglements and trusted point guard Al Nolen was suspended for the second half of the season due to academics.