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FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
MINNEAPOLIS _ The game wasn't five minutes old Saturday evening, and freshman Marcus Taylor was off the bench and on the floor.
Michigan State already was down, 7-2, to Arizona in the NCAA semifinals, and coach Tom Izzo wanted to jump-start his offense.
The first time Taylor brought the ball down the court, he drove to the basket and put up a shot, which was blocked. It was the seventh of eight possessions in the game in which MSU had come up empty.
Undaunted, the next time MSU had the ball, Taylor drove into the heart of the Arizona defense, laid the ball off the glass, and scored as he was fouled _ knocked to the floor. Taylor picked himself up and sank the free throw, closing the gap to 7-5.
"We weren't being aggressive out there," Taylor said. "When I got in the game I knew I had to be aggressive. We had to attack. That's what Arizona did."
That was a snapshot of Michigan State's basketball future. The ball is in Taylor's hands, and we will see what he can do with it.