Keith Appling made a Final Four-worthy shot to give Michigan State a 67-64 victory over Kansas on Tuesday in the Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome.
If that shot were made when the Final Four comes to the Dome in April, it likely would rank in college-basketball lore alongside the championship-clinching jumpers made by Keith Smart or Michael Jordan or the dunk made by Lorenzo Charles.
With the Spartans leading 65-64 and the shot clock winding down, Appling drove down the free-throw lane. After splitting two defenders just before the basket, he switched the ball from his right hand to his left and pushed up the layup with 14 seconds left in the game. He finished with 19 points to lead all scorers.
“The offense was kind of stagnant, so I just wanted to make a play the best way I possibly could,” Appling said about the drive. “I knew he was coming out to set a ball screen, and from there that’s all she wrote.”
The basket was set up by a 3-pointer that Appling made with 1:36 left. On that play, Kansas coach Bill Self told Elijah Johnson, who was guarding Appling, to go under the ball screen. But center Jeff Withey didn’t come out as hard as expected, leaving Appling enough to time to get a good look.
“That was the biggest shot of the game, except for his drive,” Self said.
The next time Appling got the basket in the similar spot, with a few seconds left on the shot clock, Withey charged out, allowing Appling to drive by him and attack the defense.
But it was the No. 14 Spartans’ defense, mostly missing in their season-opening loss to Connecticut, which gave Appling a chance to hit the memorable shot.
Michigan State, which had the nation’s No. 2 defense last season in terms of shooting percentage (37.9 percent), held the No. 7 Jayhawks to seven points in the final six minutes. Until then, Self said he thought his team played well, but rued their inability to finish the game.
“Up in that situation, you have to close, and we didn’t close,” Self said.
After trailing by seven early in the second half, the Spartans took a 54-53 lead on a 3-pointer by Appling with 6:55 remaining.
The Jayhawks answered with a 6-0 run fueled by an increase in intensity on defense — Travis Releford stared down Gary Harris during one moment — to take a 59-54 lead.
Harris wasn’t intimidated, scoring two quick baskets to pull the Spartans back to within one with less than four minutes remaining and start an 8-0 run. The Spartans forced a traveling call to give themselves a shot to take another lead.
They couldn’t pull ahead but tied the score at 59-59 on a free throw by Derrick Nix.
Then came another Final Four-worthy moment.
Releford drove the baseline on Kansas’ next possession, where Denzel Valentine blocked his poor shot. Valentine picked up the loose ball and threw a long downcourt pass to Harris. He went up for the slam, only Jamari Traylor met him at the rim and pinned the ball against the backboard. Nix came up with the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws to give the Spartans a 60-59 lead with 2:50 left.
They stretched the lead to 62-59 on two free throws by Branden Dawson with 2:07 left and set up Appling’s 3-pointer.
The Jayhawks weren’t done. Ben McLemore used a clever move to draw a foul on a layup, and he made the free throw to cut the Spartans’ lead to 65-64 with 48.9 seconds left and set up Appling’s moment.
“He’s a phenomenal athlete, and he’s starting to make better and better decisions,” coach Tom Izzo said. “I think he’s fallen in love with the game more than before. I’m proud of Keith.
“When you have a game like this and make a play like that, hopefully now he’ll keep working hard at it.”
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