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Michigan State-Purdue Postgame Notes
March 9, 2006
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery
Today's first-round attendance was 16,982. Michigan State With its victory over Purdue, MSU boosted its all-time overall Big Ten Tournament (BTT) record to 9-6. It was MSU's first-ever appearance in a first-round BTT game. Excluding its two 3-0 championship efforts in 1999 and 2000 (6-0), the win was only the Spartans' third in nine tries. MSU is now 2-0 vs. Purdue in BTT action. All-time, the sixth-seeded team improved its record to 8-1. The Spartans' all-time record at Conseco Fieldhouse is now 2-2. MSU's 2005-06 record in neutral court games is now 6-1. Entering the 2006 event, MSU ranked first in BTT field-goal percentage at .451 (321 of 712). Against Purdue on Thursday, the Spartans shot .453 from the field. Defense continues to be the name of the game in recent BTT contests. Prior to MSU's 70-point effort vs. Purdue today, every team in the last six tournament games had scored fewer than 70 points. In the three first-round games today, a total of 344 points were scored by the six teams. That is an all-time low in the nine-year history of the BTT. The previous lowest six-team point total in first-round action came in 1998 when just 372 total points were scored. Goran Suton scored a career and season-high 12 points vs. Purdue. It's the first time he has scored in double figures as a Spartan. Maurice Ager scored 20 points vs. Purdue. It marked only the third time in MSU's 15 BTT games that one of its players had reached the 20-point plateau. The other two players with 20 points or more in BTT play were Morris Peterson vs. Iowa in 2000 (22) and Marcus Taylor vs. Indiana in 2002 (20). Friday's quarterfinal game will mark the third time that Michigan State and Illinois have played in the BTT. Both of the previous meetings came in the BTT championship game. MSU won both times (67-50 in 1999 and 76-61 in 2000). The Illini defeated the Spartans in both of its regular-season meetings in 2006.
Purdue Purdue is 3-9 in all-time record in the BTT, which began in 1998. PU vs. MSU in the BTT is 0-2, the Spartans won the last meeting in Chicago. The Conseco Fieldhouse record for the Boilermakers is now 5-8, with the last win against Evansville on Dec. 18, 2004 The Old Gold and Black has been eliminated in the first round or quarterfinals in the last eight seasons. Dating back to March 9, 2001, Purdue has lost its last six BTT games. Purdue has also lost nine of their last 10 since opening the first BTT, when they had two straight wins. Senior center Gary Ware was the leading scorer with 20 points and finishes off his career with the Boilermakers with 301 points. Senior forward Matt Kiefer finishes his career with Purdue with a total of 855 points and 524 rebounds. First-year guard Chris Lutz finishes first in Purdue's single season record book among freshman with 53 three point shots. |
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