Izzo Stuns Wooden to Put Michigan St. in All-Time Elite 8

Mateen Cleaves led a stunning 18-11 run in the last five minutes to let double digit underdog Michigan State 2000 advance to the All-Time Elite 8 with an 81-80 stunner over the first undefeated UCLA champion from 1964 in The Value Add Basketball Game.

In our game's history, teams that are 7- to 12-point underdogs have only won 21% of their games.

Michigan State will now advance to face the all-time No. 1 UCLA 1972, while the 10th and final champ in that 12-year run UCLA team from 1975 faces Western Kentucky 1966 for the last All-Time Elite 8 team.

UCLA led 69-63 with 4:35 to play when A.J. Granger scored and drew a foul, completing the 3-point play to make it 69-66. On consecutive trips, Charlie Bell and then all-time great point guard Mateen Cleaves had steals and fast break scores to take the 70-69 lead. The two combined for nine of the Spartans 10 steals.

However, 2nd team All-American Morris Peterson finished his game high 23 point outing with key baskets down the stretch to make it 81-80, and then Andre Hutson stole the ball in the closing seconds to deny UCLA a chance for a game-winning shot.

This Michigan State 2000 was the most recent champion from the Big Ten and from Tom Izzo, and the All-time Sweet 16 win is in line with his all-time 10-5 mark in Sweet 16 games. This 1964 UCLA team was John Wooden's 15th UCLA team but first champion and undefeated team in what would start the the greatest run of all sports ever, 10 titles in 12 years ending with the 1975 title before he retired.

As the box score shows, four Michigan State 2000 players and three UCLA 1964 players went onto the NBA.

 

Pos	Michigan St. 2000	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Actual Season
1-PG	Mateen Cleaves	10	1	3	1	2	3	5	0	3	6'2,NBA	12.1 Pts,1.8 Reb,6.9 Ast
2-SG	Charlie Bell	10	0	2	6	6	1	4	0	3	6'3,NBA	11.5 Pts, 4.9 Reb
3-SF	Morris Peterson	23	3	4	6	9	5	0	0	1	6'7,NBA	16.8 Pts, 6.0 Reb
4-PF	Andre Hutson	14	0	7	0	0	5	1	0	1	6'8	10.2 Pts, 6.2 Reb
5-C	A.J. Granger	10	1	2	3	3	5	0	1	1	6'9	9.5 Pts, 5.3 Reb, 1.2 Ast
1-PG	Mike Chappell	6	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'9	5.9 Pts, 2.2 Reb, 0.6 Ast
2-SG	Adam Ballinger	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'9	2.0 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 0.3 Ast
3-SF	Aloysius Anagonye	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'8	2.9 Pts, 3.0 Reb, 0.3 Ast
4-PF	David Thomas	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'7	2.4 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 1.5 Ast
5-C	Jason Richardson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'6,NBA	5.1 Pts, 4.1 Reb, 0.6 Ast
	Turnovers 15	81	5	25	16	20	25	10	1	14
Pos	UCLA 1964	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Height	Actual Season
1-PG	Gail Goodrich	13	2	2	3	4	1	3	1	1	6'1,NBA	21.5 Pts, 5.2 Reb
2-SG	Walt Hazzard	21	0	9	3	4	2	2	0	1	6'2,NBA	18.6 Pts, 4.7 Reb
3-SF	Fred Slaughter	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	1	5	6'5	7.9 Pts, 8.1 Reb
4-PF	Jack Hirsch	13	1	5	0	0	5	0	0	1	6'3	14.0 Pts, 7.6 Reb
5-C	Keith Erickson	12	0	6	0	0	6	1	2	3	6'5,NBA	10.7 Pts, 9.1 Reb
1-PG	Mike Huggins	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	2	5'11	1.6 Pts, 1.0 Reb
2-SG	Kenny Washington	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	3	6'3	6.1 Pts, 4.2 Reb
3-SF	Rich Levin	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	6'4	2.0 Pts, 0.6 Reb
4-PF	Kim Stewart	6	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	1	6'5	2.2 Pts, 2.0 Reb
5-C	Doug McIntosh	5	1	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	6'7	3.6 Pts, 4.4 Reb
	Turnovers 16	80	4	31	6	8	25	6	4	19

Here is the updated bracket with only one Sweet 16 game left before the Elite 8.