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EAST LANSING - Raymar Morgan and Isaiah Dahlman found themselves together on a two-on-one fast break. Morgan lobbed it up, Dahlman put it down.
"A classic senior moment," Dahlman said.
Later, it was Kalin Lucas and Dahlman, two-on-none. Lucas was in front and he yelled back to Dahlman: "Backboard!"
"I'm thinking, 'Is he really doing this? Is this legal for Michigan State basketball?' " Dahlman recalled of the play, on which Lucas tossed the ball off the glass and Dahlman slammed it late in Michigan State's title-clinching 64-48 rout of Michigan on Sunday. "It's definitely something I'm gonna remember, and my kids are gonna see it a couple times."
Senior day went about as well as could be scripted for Morgan and Dahlman, who were honored after the game along with walk-on Jon Crandell and managers Justin Munson (Elsie) and Robby Smith.
Morgan was the best player on the court, a fiery presence from the opening tip with a season-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. On one sequence, he threw U-M's Zack Novak to the ground on a jump ball, then stole the ball on the resulting inbounds pass and scored on the other end, plus the foul.
The resulting, chest-bumping celebration was one of many for Morgan on a day he acknowledged was his most intense of the season.
"Yeah it was, just being senior night, I'd have to say it was," said Morgan, who is averaging 14.6 points in his past five games.
"Ray seems confident to me right now when I look at him," MSU coach Tom Izzo said. "He seems excited to be at practice when I look at him. Not that he didn't like practice, but he's doing what a lot of seniors do. You know, it's judgment day and you kind of look at the alternatives and realize it's almost over."
For Dahlman, Sunday was a rare opportunity to start and see extended minutes (he played a season-high 14). And it was the second time his mother, Kathy, saw him play at Breslin Center.
Dahlman's parents told him they wouldn't be able to make senior day, so he asked Izzo's wife, Lupe, to walk with him during post-game ceremonies.
On Saturday, Dahlman heard a knock at his door. It was his mother. Shocked, he closed the door on her at first.
"Am I dreaming, what's going on here?" he said as he opened the door again. Dahlman said his mother sold some of his late grandmother's jewelry so she could make the drive from Braham, Minn.
As it turns out, the whole team was in on the surprise. Kathy wept as she walked with her son during the post-game ceremony honoring the seniors.
"They often say our job is to make a boy a man," Izzo said of Dahlman. "You know, I don't know what he made me, but he made me a better person than I was, just being around him. So he should get my paycheck for that."
DOWN TIME HURTS: MSU sophomore forward Delvon Roe had a huge first half with 10 points in 12 minutes, but he played just three minutes in the second. Roe said his right knee, which likely will need minor surgery in the offseason, stiffened on him after sitting at halftime.
"It's tough always for the second half for me to come in and play because it's a long sit, so we're gonna have to think about using the bike or something," said Roe, who said the knee felt "normal" during the first half.
Also on the injury front, Lucas has been dealing with a foot infection, Izzo revealed, which cost him some practice time before Sunday's game.
A LIGHT JAB: U-M coach John Beilein was complimentary of MSU after the game, saying the Spartans have "as good a defense as there is in the country," but he also said this of the Spartans:
"They are super physical, probably the most physical team we play and that's, it's a concern of mine two ways. Number one, we have to get more physical and number two, I must be teaching some different things in basketball defense because we don't grab people a lot, not that they were grabbing, but there's a lot of physical play that goes on and I wish it could be called tighter at times, but that's the way it's done."
Told of that comment at his news conference, Izzo took a long pause at first.
"I think he's a very good coach and has done a very good job there. And it's ... there's some teams in our league that make us look like chump change in that area," Izzo said. "I think basketball, I don't think we're as physical or tough a team as we've been, so maybe it's a good thing that he wasn't here back in 2000 or 1999 and had Cleaves biting you and carrying you around."
TIDBITS: Izzo is the sixth Big Ten coach to win six or more titles, joining Bobby Knight, Fred Taylor, Gene Keady, Ward Lambert and Walter Meanwell. Knight is the last coach to get six in a 15-year span. ... Lawrence Thomas, the Detroit Renaissance junior linebacker who verbally committed to MSU last week, was in the crowd. Thomas is ranked the top player in the state for the class of 2011. Other visitors included Goran Suton, Izzo's parents and his best friend, former NFL coach Steve Mariucci.
