Cleveland – Jaden Akins scored 16 points. This includes three pointers that Michigan advanced Michigan for his stay, with manager Tom Izzo taking the Spartans in the 16th Sweet 16 in a 71-63 win over New Mexico on Sunday night.
Izzo has 58 wins in the NCAA Tournament and is fourth in his coaching career. The 70-year-old Hall of Fame took the Spartans to march 27 times.
Four of these victories came against the Pitino family. Izzo won both matchups with New Mexico coach Richard Pitino, 2-1 against his father Rick. Elder Pitino, whose St. John's team was eliminated by John Calipari and Arkansas on Saturday, flew to Cleveland and had front row seats on the other side of the Lobos bench.
Tre Holloman added 14 points to second-seeded Michigan State (29-6) facing Mississippi in the semifinals of Atlanta's Southern Region on Friday night. The sixth seed rebels defeated Iowa and advanced to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2001.
“In the first half of that game, it was as good as barrage of hell as we hit us. It wasn't that we were down a lot, but we didn't seem to be protecting, they were making shots,” Izo said. “When we got the defense, we thought we had a break and we rebounded the ball pretty well.”
Nelly's junior Joseph scored 16 points, while Mustafa Amzil and Donovan Dent added 14 to the New Mexico 10th seeds (27-8). Robo is 0-7 in the second round game since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“They're big, they're strong, they're athletic. They had some blocking shots from behind that I've never seen all year round. Certainly, they have another level of athletic ability that we're not used to,” Pitino said of Michigan. “We knew they were going to make it for us. We wanted to get a little more to the foul line. We didn't.
The Spartans chased 31-29 at halftime, but opened the second half with six straight points. A pair of free throws by Coen Carr gave them their first lead 90 seconds into the second half.
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Dent's layup concluded the game with 51-All with 7:39 left. Michigan then cited controls with seven straight points. The run started with a three-pointer by Akins, as the shot clock was caught in, and New Mexico's True Washington was protecting him.
“I feel it was pretty big that gave us the lead. It gave us momentum. I wasn't filming well so I felt better today when I was efficient,” said Akins, who was seven years old from the field after winning a 4 in 15 wins at Bryant on Friday night.
New Mexico never followed the first half and rose to 29-20 after Anzil's second three-pointer in the first half.
Michigan responded with an 8-0 run, including an Akins dunk.
