Florida Gators
Michigan State
Michigan State hands Florida its first loss 99-83
Thursday, December 7, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Randolph scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half. He scored 11 points after Florida center Udonis Haslem fouled out with 12 minutes to go in the game. Taylor chipped in with 15 points. Michigan State got 14 points from Charlie Bell to build a 48-40 first half lead. Bell finished the game with 20 points.
Matt Bonner scored the first five points of the second half to cut the Spartans' lead to 48-45. But a 12-4 run gave Michigan State a 60-49 lead. Teddy Dupay, who came off a one-game suspension to score 17 points, hit a three-point basket to cut the deficit to 76-72. But that was as close as the Gators would get.
Gator coach Billy Donovan was disappointed in the loss. He lamented the inability of his players to come up with defensive stops. "When we needed to come up with a play, we could never get over the hump", said Donovan. "It reminded me of the National Championship game. We cut it to six, then someone stepped up for them. That's why they are a great basketball team."
Brent Wright led the Gators with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Bonner scored 17 points for the second straight game. Haslem, who scored 27 points against Michigan State in the National Championship game, was held to 13 points.
Florida falls to 3-1 on the year with a game against Rutgers coming up Saturday at the O-Connell Center at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Michigan State is now 6-0 and has a 34-game home winning streak at the Breslin Center.
