MICHIGAN STATE 67, KANSAS 62

Game Over

Kansas out-rebounded Michigan State for the entire game, but several times in the last three minutes the Spartans came up with offensive boards to prolong possessions and eventually score.

Photo Gallery

Kansas Basketball: NCAA Sweet Sixteen vs. Michigan State

A photo gallery of the Jayhawks 67-62 season ending loss to the Michigan State Spartans Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

In the end, those came back to haunt the Jayhawks.

Self's boys gave up a little too much room and Collins missed a crucial free throw as the Spartans escaped with a 67-62 victory.

KANSAS 58, MICHIGAN STATE 55

3:51 left in the second half

What a classic.

This game has had more twists and turns than a roller coaster, yet we still have a little less than four minutes to play.

Reed came up with his usual big shot after making a stellar defensive stop, and now it' s on Kansas' defense to hold the lead. I've got a feeling we'll see at least a couple more lead changes before this thing is done.

MICHIGAN STATE 51, KANSAS 49

6:54 left in the second half

Self tried to rest Collins, but the team fell apart without him on the floor. While Collins was out, Michigan State's Kalin Lucas hit a three-pointer and Travis Walton added a deuce to give the Spartans their first lead of the second half.

Collins will be in there the rest of the game, as will Aldrich, who has somehow played this long without committing a foul.

KANSAS 44, MICHIGAN STATE 42

14:45 left in the second half

A big man battle has broken out in the middle of this run-and-gun game.

Cole Aldrich and the Spartans' Goran Suton combined for 23 first-half points, but most of it came in transition. Now these two behemoths are going toe-to-toe on the block and with their jump-shooting.

Suton hit an open trey, and then Aldrich countered with a 15-foot jumper. The guards have taken a back seat early in the second half and, personally, I hope it stays that way. There's nothing better than a battle of bigs.

KANSAS 36, MICHIGAN STATE 29

Halftime

This game is everything that Louisville-Arizona failed to be.

While the Spartans have only led briefly, it's been close all game with each team taking turns on scoring runs.

The Collins-Aldrich show is doing everything we've come to expect. Brady Morningstar, however, has been a huge surprise for Kansas.

After barely drawing iron on his first shot, Morningstar scored a garbage layup and broke away for a couple of dunks. So far he's been the difference in this game.

Two key first-half stats: Kansas hit 50 percent of its shots and it out-rebounded Michigan St. 18-15. The Spartans have only been out-rebounded three times this season.

KANSAS 30, MICHIGAN STATE 19

3:47 left in the first half

Morningstar dunked again and Kansas has built itself a nice lead.

There have been a few nice offensive sets, but mostly the Jayhawks are scoring quickly off steals and defensive rebounds. As long as Michigan State continues to struggle from the field (7-for-23) that style of play will work just fine.

KANSAS 20, MICHIGAN STATE 16

7:57 left in the first half

Sherron Collins is a sweaty guy.

That's not news, but Collins' perspiration is worth noting. First of all, he's drenched as soon as he steps on the court. It's like there's a sauna in the locker room and Collins is the only one with the key.

The reason I bring that up is that it never seems to prevent him from dominating. One would think that a sweaty grip wouldn't be a good thing for a basketball player, but Collins is never affected.

Example: After Kansas fell behind for the first time today, Collins pushed off his defender (think Jordan vs. Russell in '96) and drained a three. He was pushed down after the shot and once his sweaty body hit the perfectly clean court, Collins slid a good eight feet.

Sherron Collins: Hero to über-sweaty basketball players everywhere.

KANSAS 15, MICHIGAN STATE 10

11:58 left in the first half

The unbelievable has occurred. Brady Morningstar dunked.

I didn't think it was possible, but the oldest sophomore in the building stole the ball, went on his own breakaway and finished with a slam.

It must be the springs underneath this raised court that gave him the extra "umph" to get over the rim, which has stuffed him so many times before.

KANSAS 5, MICHIGAN STATE 2

15:38 left in the first half

Neither team is exactly playing great in the early goings here.

Cole Aldrich missed a couple easy shots. Same thing for Markieff Morris. On the other side, Michigan State's only bucket was a cheap layup when Suton went unguarded.

Still, Marcus Morris woke up the KU fans early with a sweet breakaway slam.

8:30 p.m.

Prediction time.

This one's difficult. Kansas was so worried about getting upset that a loss in the first round wouldn't have surprised me too much.

Now that the Jayhawks have played to their seed, however, there seems to be a calm in the locker room. They don't have anymore jitters about failing because they'll be the underdogs from here on out.

However, we saw Michigan State play up in Minneapolis and it won a game in which its stars struggled because the role players stepped up. While Kansas has done that this season, we haven't seen anything close to that in the tournament.

The Spartans can survive some lapses from their bench or role players. The Jayhawks can't. Their margin for error is so much smaller that it will take another perfect game from both Aldrich and Collins, and then even that may not be enough.

It should close and exciting, but I've got to give the edge to Michigan State. Put me down for a 82-77 Spartan victory.

8:15 p.m.

My feeling is this game won't be decided by the stars. It's not going to be a Cole Aldrich dunk or a Kalin Lucas shot that puts either team over the edge.

Instead, this game feels like it's going to come down to "the rest."

For Kansas, that group includes Brady Morningstar, Tyrel Reed and Marcus Morris. All three are starters but their production fluctuates like a Richter scale from week to week. Reed is known for hitting big three-pointers late in a game, but he's been absent along with most of Kansas' roster in this tournament.

If the Jayahwks were playing anybody but the Flyers last weekend wouldn't be here today because they didn't play good enough to beat any decent major conference team.

That's why I think it's going to come down to "the rest." This game will be close and in order to get to that point, Kansas must get production out of its other starters and its bench.

Likewise, Michigan State couldn't of made it past USC without a career game from defensive-specialist Travis Walton. The stars will shine, but the winning team will be the one that comes up with an unlikely hero.

7:45 p.m.

Two choices: We could discuss Kansas' upset bid against Michigan State (which is set to tip in less than an hour) or we could breakdown Louisville's many forms of show-boating (which have been the only second-half entertainment). I think we'll go with the former.

There's plenty to talk about when we look at this game. First, how have these teams changed since the Spartans won 75-62 in East Lansing, Mich., on Jan. 10.

For Kansas, that game was Mario Little's second game back from injury. As such, he played just seven minutes and wasn't much of a factor.

That may or may not be a big deal considering no one, including coach Bill Self, seems to know how much Little will play on a given night. My guess is Little will play at least 10 minutes for two reasons: 1. The Spartans don't know his game as well as the Jays' other big men, which could create some matchup problems. 2. More importantly, Little is an aggressor on the boards and his physicality will be much needed as Kansas tries to contain the nation's top rebounding team.

For Michigan State, that game came right after Goran Suton's injury and just before Raymar Morgan's illness. What that means is Kansas will likely see a very similar team. Similar in personnel, but more seasoned by a successful conference season and three more months of playing together as a team.

In that respect, Kansas has a slight advantage since it added a solid contributor who wasn't at full health for that game. It may not seem like much, but Mario Little is the only Kansas player besides the Big Two who played well in Minneapolis.

7:05 p.m.

I haven't seen too much of Louisville this season. I watch plenty of college basketball, but the Cardinals' games never seemed to be on my agenda.

That's why I was particularly excited for tonight's first game between Louisville and Arizona. There's been plenty of time spent on discussing Louisville's prowess, but nothing I read or saw prepared me for just how utterly dominant coach Rick Pitino's team is.

Point forward Terrence Williams is an absolute beast. Better yet, he's a floor reader who doesn't need to score in order to be effective. In the first half tonight he had just three points, but registered four rebounds, four assists and two steals to help spur his team to a 49-28 advantage.

I was hoping for a close game, but clearly these teams aren't playing on the same level.

For full NCAA tournament coverage, including free live streaming of games, please go to ncaa.com.