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Closer Look MSU's Chappell finds touch in time for decisive shot
Posted: Tuesday April 04, 2000 01:58 AM
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com INDIANAPOLIS -- Mike Chappell had been looking for his shooting touch all season long. He finally found it Monday night, and with one beautiful stroke helped propel Michigan State to its first national championship in 21 years. "This year has been pretty much a struggle for me," said the junior from Southfield, Mich., who sat out last season after transferring from Duke. "But to end it like this ... just to have a chance to win the national championship ... it's unbelievable." Chappell, a much-talked about transfer who has been lingering on Michigan State's bench for most of the season, hit the shot that may well turn around his college career early in the second half of Monday night's title game at the RCA Dome. The Spartans had led almost the entire game, and were ahead of Florida 50-44 when MSU point guard Mateen Cleaves, the man who makes the Spartans tick, went out of the game with a horrific-looking ankle injury. It seemed a perfect opportunity, with more than 16 minutes left, for the Gators to mount a comeback. But the Spartans would have none of it. In the huddle, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told his players that this was the time they had to make a stand. Then Izzo called a set play for Chappell, a 6-foot-9 forward. "I think we really rallied together in that huddle," Chappell said. "We didn't know how serious Mateen's injury was." The ball was inbounded to Cleaves' replacement at the point, Charlie Bell, on the block, and Chappell ran off a double screen set by Michigan State big men Aloysius Anagonye and Andre Hutson. Chappell then looped around to the right wing, took the pass from Bell and drilled a perfect 3-pointer from about 20 feet. A six-point lead became nine points just like that -- even with Cleaves headed to the locker room with a sprained ankle. "I knew we had the momentum at that point of the game," said Chappell, who averaged just 14.8 minutes a game this season and had made less than 30 percent of his shots through the first 28 games. "I knew I was going to do everything that was in my power to keep it that way." Chappell wasn't finished after his 3-pointer. About three minutes later, with the score still 53-44, he followed a miss by Jason Richardson on a fast break and tipped it in, giving the Spartans an 11-point bulge. By the time Chappell came out -- when Cleaves re-entered the game with 11:51 remaining -- the Spartans still had a nine-point lead. That's three more than when Cleaves left. The Gators never got closer than eight points the rest of the way. "It's not like it's Mateen Cleaves and a bunch of spastics," Florida's Mike Miller said afterward. "They did a great job without him at the beginning of the year. They're a great basketball team." Chappell finished with five points and the one offensive rebound he was credited with on the stickback. More than that, he finished his junior season knowing that, finally, he had his stroke back. And a national championship to go with it.
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