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Jeremy Fears, Michigan State upends Louisville to move on to Sweet 16
By David Wasson
Published:
March is Tom Izzo time once again.
Izzo’s third-seeded Michigan State Spartans applied a squeezing defense on sixth-seeded Louisville for the full 40 minutes of Saturday’s Round of 32 game, holding the Cardinals in check throughout for a 77-69 victory in the East Region in Buffalo.
Michigan State (27-7) advances to the program’s 23rd Sweet 16 appearance and will take either second-seeded UConn or seventh-seeded UCLA on March 27 in Washington, D.C. Louisville ends its season at 24-11.
Izzo is responsible for 17 of the Spartans’ Sweet 16 runs in his Hall of Fame tenure in East Lansing. Michigan State is attempting to replicate its Elite Eight run from 2025 and potentially its national title triumph in 2000. Saturday marked Izzo’s 61st NCAA Tournament victory.
The Spartans were led by Coen Carr, who scored a game-high 21 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Jeremy Fears Jr. tallied 13 points, Trey Fort dropped 12 points and Jaxon Kohler added 10 points. Fears also tallied 16 assists, the most by a Spartan in an NCAA Tournament game.
Louisville entered Saturday’s second-round game averaging 84.7 points per game but shot just 41.3 percent from the field and only attempted six free throws compared to Michigan State’s 19. Ryan Conwell led the Cardinals with 18 points and Adrian Wooley added 17 points.
An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.