The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

In their 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis championship run, Baylor defeated the Virginia Commonwealth Rams and Michigan State Spartans en route to the title.

Five years later, the Bears have an opportunity to follow a similar path in the 2021 tournament with a semifinal win over VCU and a matchup with Michigan State in the finals.

The No.6 ranked Bears advanced to the final with a 69-61 win over VCU while the Spartans upset the No.22 ranked UConn Huskies 64-60 in yesterday’s semifinal bracket at the Atlantis resort’s Imperial Arena.

Michigan State and Baylor will meet today at 11am in the title game.

Matthew Mayer led the Bears with 15 points, Kendall Brown scored 14 and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Vince Williams Jr scored 17 for the Rams and Luke Stockard scored 16.

The Spartans closed the first of two semifinals on a 9-0 run in the come from behind win over the Huskies. Gabe Brown led the Spartans with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Julius Marble II scored 15 points. “This tournament was unbelievable when you look at some of the great finishes and great games. We have been a part of two of them,” Izzo said. “We just beat a hell of a team, [Dan Hurley, UConn Huskies head coach] does a great job, they’re good. I feel like we played really good too, so I give us credit in alot of ways.”

They opened the tournament with a 63-61 win over the Loyola Chicago Ramblers.

The Spartans opened the semifinal yesterday with an early 14 point lead in the first half and maintained a double digit advantage through the opening moments of the second. UConn went on a run of their own midway through the second and took a 55-48 lead with just under five minutes left to play but the Spartans would have the final and most influential run to advance.

Michigan State was efficient down the stretch and 7-8 free throws in the final two minutes and 9-10 in the final five minutes. They also held a 31-7 advantage in bench points.

The Spartans improved to 4-1 all-time in the tournament. They finished third at the 2016 edition of the tournament in a homecoming opportunity for former point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr.

Izzo added that manoeuvring the quick turnaround and tough competition at the Battle 4 Atlantis sets the tone for the team’s performance later in the season.

“It’s tough but it also makes it good. If you are going to get in the NCAA Tournament you have two days prep and it feels like a week. We told our guys that coming in before we came - learning how to have quick turnarounds, which in the past we’ve been really good at,” Izzo said.

“It’s an art because you’re tired you’re going to have to learn how to focus in, you’re going to have to learn how to get things done, assistant coaches have to figure out that we have to give them information but not too much information, all these things makes tournaments like this great. In my own way, I would rather play three in three days...I think it’ll help all the teams as the year goes on.”