Long Island gave the No. 1 Michigan State Spartans a surprisingly tough time in the first half of the March Madness Sacrificial Lamb Bowl, but the one-seeds’ all-time shutout of sixteens continued apace in the second-half. The 89-67 final score means the No. 9 Saint Louis Billikens will face Tom Izzo’s team for the chance to make an improbable run at their first Sweet 16 performance in the intermittent history of their NCAA Tournament runs. Rick Majerus’s team will have to play even more perfectly than they did in the second-half performance that put them ahead of the Memphis Tigers for good.
For a team whose most enduring basketball success came back when people cared about winning the NIT—whose all-time great, Ed Macauley, was traded for Bill Russell—it’s a chance to finally put themselves on the contemporary NCAA tournament map.
It’s hard to imagine, but it’s certainly possible. It’ll be happening Sunday. For more information as it’s available, follow SB Nation St. Louis’s SLU storystream; like it on Facebook for automatic updates.
Here are some stories hand-picked from Friday’s March Madness:
- Rick Majerus was named SLUperman by an enterprising SLUman being.
- In case you missed it—you probably didn’t—Saint Louis University upset Memphis. Which was pretty great.