Auburn Hills, MI

Gary Harris, Adreian Payne and freshman Denzel Valentine combined for 24 points in the second half as No. 3 Michigan State booked a spot in the Sweet 16 with a 70-48 triumph over Memphis Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Back-to-back dunks by Payne staked the Spartans to a 45-32 lead with 12 minutes left to play before Harris put the finishing touches on with six foul shots as the Spartans secured their fifth regional semifinal appearance in last six years.

Michigan State is now 11-1 in the round of 32 under coach Tom Izzo, who made it to the Sweet 16 for the 11th time in the last 16 seasons.

Harris finished with a career-high 23 points and Payne recorded 14 points, 10 boards and five blocks for the Spartans, who will face the winner of the Duke-Creighton showdown Friday in the Midwest Regional semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.

"He (Harris) has a big heart, and a lot of guts. He wants to play on the big stage," Izzo said after the game.

Derrick Nix added 13 points and eight boards while Valentine, who picked up the slack after leading scorer Keith Appling went down with a shoulder injury in the second half, tallied nine points, six rebounds and six assists.

Appling, who was averaging 13.6 points, scored just two points on 1-for-4 shooting.

Michigan State held Memphis to 48 points, the lowest by a Spartan opponent in the NCAA Tournament since Florida scored 46 in 2003.

The output was a season-low and the second-lowest by Tigers in an NCAA Tournament game since they scored 45 against UCLA in 2006. The Tigers shot just 29.7 percent, their second-lowest field-goal percentage this season.

The Spartans also outmuscled Memphis in the shaded lane, grabbing 49 rebounds compared to 29 by the Tigers.

"Give MSU full credit. They're a great basketball team, and they're big and physical," said Memphis coach Josh Pastner, who drew 16 points from Geron Johnson and 12 from Joe Jackson.

Gary Harris scored 16 of his career-high 23 points in the first half to help third-seeded Michigan State cruise past sixth-seeded Memphis 70-48 on Saturday, putting the Spartans in the round of 16 for the fifth time in six years

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Harris and Payne Key Michigan State Win over Memphis