MINNEAPOLIS – It wasn’t the way this one was supposed to go.
Not this year. Not after everything Michigan State had been through. Not in a season where it got the necessary run seemingly every time it needed one.
For seven minutes in the second half, it looked as if it was going to get another. Down 13 points with fewer than nine minutes to play, the Spartans chipped away as they so often have.
A Cassius Winston triple, Xavier Tillman triple, four Winston free throws, two Tillman free throws and then four points from Aaron Henry – two from the stripe and a slashing layup – and MSU had put together a 16-4 run in 6:46 of game time to get within one.