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Unsung hero Granger gives Michigan State unexpected lift
Posted: Tuesday April 04, 2000 01:05 AM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Most everyone knew Michigan State had the Flintstones. Now the basketball world knows about A.J. Granger, too. Granger matched his career-high with 19 points to help the Spartans beat Florida 89-76 on Monday night for their first NCAA title since 1979. "We called him the 'X' factor going into the game," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "We knew that Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson were going to probably play well and do a good job handling our press." Peterson led the Spartans with 21 points and Cleaves, despite missing about four minutes because of an injured ankle, added 18 for Michigan State. Donovan said the Gators needed to stop Granger from stepping out and making 3-point shots. They didn't. Granger was 3-of-8 from beyond the 3-point line. Granger, a senior from Findlay, Ohio, who was recruited in the same class as Cleaves and Peterson, said the Spartans were one step ahead of Donovan. They figured Florida would gamble on spending most of its energy trying to defend Peterson and Cleaves. "I'm not the go-to guy, so I got more good shots," Granger said. "They got me open tonight, set some picks for me. Then, I just had to make the shots." There were other unsung heroes for the Spartans, of course. Jason Richardson, Mike Chappell, Adam Ballinger all played key roles off the bench as the Spartans beat the Gators at their own warp-speed game. "It just seems like somebody on this team steps up every night," Granger said. "Tonight, it just happened to be me and Morris." Michigan State also got a gutty performance from Charlie Bell, who isn't nearly as well-known as fellow Flintstones Cleaves and Peterson. During a stretch of about four minutes when Cleaves was out getting his right ankle tapped after a hard fall early in the second half, Bell held the Spartans together. If the Spartans, leading by six points at the time, were going to fold, this might have been the time. But they had been in this situation before -- for the first two months of the season. Bell played point guard for the Spartans' first 13 games while Cleaves recovered from a stress fracture in that right foot. He did it again in the biggest game of his life and Michigan State had increased its lead to nine points by the time Cleaves limped back onto the court. But it was Granger who gave the Spartans an unexpected offensive push -- something they felt would be vital against Florida's in-your-face defense. Every time the Gators collapsed on Peterson, Cleaves and Andre Hutson, it was Granger who shredded their strategy. He hit 3-pointers, drove the baseline for leaners in the paint, and battled underneath for rebounds. Every time it seemed like the Gators had come up with a stop, it seemed Granger would get the ball and somehow hit a basket. Granger has been quietly outstanding during this entire tournament run. He averaged 9.3 points during the regular season, but put his game on another level once the tournament started. Granger also scored 19 against Syracuse and 18 against Iowa in the Midwest Regional.
"This is a night when we had a lot of guys do a lot of
things," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said. "I don't know what we
would have done without some of those subs."
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