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Sunday, April 1
Richardson, Bell go cold at worst time
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS – Jason Richardson and Charlie Bell hardly
could have picked a worse time to play their worst game of the
season.
|  | | Jason Richardson was just 2-of-11 from the floor Saturday. |
Michigan State's top two scorers combined to go just 3-of-21
from the floor Saturday in an 80-61 loss to Arizona in the NCAA
Tournament semifinals.
"I think to win big games, your best players have to play
well," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "And those two guys
have done it for us a lot and they struggled tonight. I think they
struggled because of the good defense Arizona played.
"Maybe they were even better than I thought."
It was the defending national champion Spartans' first loss in
the tourney since falling to Duke in the 1999 Final Four.
Richardson, who led Michigan State this season by averaging 15
points, scored just six Saturday on 2-of-11 shooting.
Bell made one of his 10 shots and finished with three points,
10.8 under his season average.
They also turned the ball over a total of seven times.
"They were very, very quick," Bell said. "They came to play
and they really took it to us."
Richardson did not score a point until there was 4:31 left in
the first half. His first points of the second half didn't come
until there were under five minutes left to play and the game was
already out of reach.
He gave an indication of how his game was going to go when he
sent up an air ball short of the rim on the first shot of the game.
His second attempt sailed over the rim.
The high-flying sophomore even mishandled an alley-oop pass from
Bell with four minutes left.
That miscue prompted Izzo to bury his face in his hands.
Richardson had shooting problems throughout the tournament,
finishing 20-of-55 over the team's five games.
"Everyone has their slumps," he said. "Unfortunately, mine
came in the tournament, where it matters most."
Bell's first point came with 15:35 left in the game and he
scored only once more. The senior's final miss came on a wide-open
layup in the closing minutes.
"I feel so bad for Charlie," Michigan State's Aloysius
Anagonye said. "He's done so much for this team and this program.
He deserved to go out better than this."
Thanks in large part to Bell and Richardson, the Spartans became
just the ninth team ever to advance to the Final Four for a third
consecutive year.
They also won the Big Ten title for a fourth straight year.
Michigan State assistant coach Brian Gregory said it wouldn't be
accurate to say Bell, who had 10 rebounds, had a bad game.
"We ask him to do so much," Gregory said. "We ask him to
guard the other team's best scorer and I thought he did a good job
on (Gilbert) Arenas in the first half and when (Jason) Gardner was
heating up, we put Charlie on him and he slowed him down."
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