CLEVELAND — Jaden Akins scored 16 points, including a 3-pointer that put Michigan State ahead to stay, and coach Tom Izzo took the Spartans to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time with a 71-63 victory over New Mexico on Sunday night.
Izzo has 58 wins in the NCAA Tournament, tied for fourth in a coaching career. The 70-year-old Hall of Famer has taken the Spartans to March Madness 27 times.
Four of those victories have come against the Pitino family. Izzo has won both of his matchups against New Mexico coach Richard Pitino and is 2-1 against his father, Rick. The elder Pitino, whose St. John’s squad was eliminated on Saturday by John Calipari and Arkansas, flew to Cleveland and had a front-row seat opposite the Lobos’ bench.
Tre Holloman added 14 points for second-seeded Michigan State (29-6), which will face Mississippi in a South Region semifinal in Atlanta on Friday night. The sixth-seeded Rebels beat Iowa State to advance to the tournament’s second weekend for the first time since 2001.
“The first half of that game, that was as good of a barrage as we’ve had hit us. It wasn’t that we were down a lot, but it just seemed like we weren’t guarding, and they were making shots,” Izzo said. “I thought we got our break going when we got our defense going, and we rebounded the ball pretty well.”
Nelly Junior Joseph scored 16 points and Mustapha Amzil and Donovan Dent added 14 apiece for No. 10 seed New Mexico (27-8). The Lobos are 0-7 in second-round games since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re athletic. They had some blocked shots from behind that I hadn’t seen all year. Certainly, there’s another level of athleticism that we’re not used to,” Pitino said about Michigan State. “We knew they’d make us earn it. I was wishing we could get to the foul line a little bit more. We did not. Making five free throws versus a very, very physical team is hard.”
The Spartans trailed 31-29 at halftime, but opened the second half with six straight points. A pair of free throws by Coen Carr 90 seconds into the second half gave them their first lead.
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A layup by Dent tied the game at 51-all with 7:39 remaining. Michigan State then took control with seven straight points. The run started with a 3-pointer by Akins as the shot clock was winding down, with New Mexico’s Tru Washington guarding him.
“I feel like it was pretty big just giving us the lead. It gave us some momentum. I haven’t been shooting good, so it just felt good to be efficient today,” said Akins, who was 7 of 11 from the field after going 4 for 15 in Friday night’s first-round win over Bryant.
New Mexico never trailed in the first half and was up 29-20 after Anzil’s second 3-pointer of the first half.
Michigan State responded with an 8-0 run, including a dunk by Akins.
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