Lucious set to fill in for injured Lucas
March 24, 2010
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP)—Korie Lucious is enjoying his newfound fame,relishing the buzz he created on Michigan State’s campus with his buzzer-beateragainst Maryland.
“I’m soaking it all up,” Lucious said Tuesday. “I’m happy I made it, butI can’t dwell on that shot. We have to move on because there’s more games towin.
“I’m trying to get to the Final Four.”
The fifth-seeded Spartans will have to beat ninth-seeded Northern Iowa onFriday night in the Midwest Regional semifinals and Ohio State or TennesseeSunday to advance to college basketball’s showcase for the sixth time in 12years.
The Spartans are not a popular pick to pull off the feat.
Lucious has to replace star guard Kalin Lucas, who ruptured an Achilles’tendon during Sunday’s win that ended with Lucious’ 3-pointer, while Chris Allen(right foot) or Delvon Roe (right knee) will play banged up in St. Louis.
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo—whose .750 winning percentage in thetournament ranks third among active coaches—says the injuries have created hisgreatest challenge during his streak of 13 straight NCAAs.
“I know nobody is picking us for much right now,” Izzo said. “I don’tblame anybody, either.”
If the Spartans get past Northern Iowa, though, it wouldn’t be wise to countthem out because they’re 15-3 in the NCAA tournament’s second-, fourth-round andchampionship games under Izzo.
“History says if we can get to the second game of a weekend, we’ve got achance,” Izzo said.
A lot of the doubt stems from the quantum leap Lucious has to make,replacing a two-time All-Big Ten player and 2009 conference player of the year.
Lucious has averaged five points—seventh on the team—and three assistsin nearly 22 minutes this season.
Lucas led the team in scoring, 14.8 points a game, assists and playing timeas a seasoned junior.
Izzo acknowledges he isn’t sure how Lucious will fare, but the head coachand the assistant who recruited him out of Milwaukee are confident the sophomorewon’t be timid.
“He has no conscious,” assistant coach Dwayne Stephens said. “He’s notafraid to take a big shot.”
Michigan State is trying to quickly find a way to harness Lucious’s“playground mentality,”—as Izzo called it—so that he can calmly set upplays as the on-the-court leader and avoid a slew of turnovers.
Lucious is confident he can make the transition.
“I need to focus more on the type of passes I make,” he said. “And to notsettle for home runs, but to try to go for singles.”
Lucious said skipping a single class kept him home when Michigan Statetraveled to Penn State last month and thinks the suspension ended up being ablessing.
“After that incident, I’ve been playing the best basketball since I’ve beenhere, making a lot shots, getting people involved more and my defense has pickedup,” he said. “That incident helped me mature as a person and as a basketballplayer.”
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