Points of brilliance

DETROIT – Expect a fast and furious finish to Monday night’s NCAA national championship game between Michigan State and North Carolina.

The Tar Heels are the nation’s top running team and can devastate opponents with their ability to get up and down the court. The Spartans, meanwhile, have knocked off No. 1 seeds Louisville and Connecticut over their past two games and have surprised some with their knack for excelling in a frenetic tempo.

Something has to give when the teams meet at Ford Field. The effectiveness of point guards Kalin Lucas of MSU and Ty Lawson of UNC will go a long way in determining things.

“Quick,” Lucas said when asked Sunday what was the first thing that came to mind in describing Lawson.

“Speed,” Lawson countered when questioned about Lucas.

The Tar Heels made fast work of the Spartans back in December in the Detroit dome. Lawson had the upper hand, striking for 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. He added eight assists and seven steals in the 98-63 rout. Lucas managed six points, making just two of 10 shots, with five assists and a steal.

“He played great,” Lucas said of Lawson. “He ran his team and got his guys shots. He made sure he created for himself plus his team. Everybody knows they beat us bad.”

Lawson, a junior, cautions those ready to hand the Tar Heels the crown not to put too much stock in what he said was an off night for sophomore Lucas and MSU.

“He’s a great player,” Lawson said of Lucas. “I’ve been watching him throughout the year since that game. He helped them tear though the Big Ten and was the Big Ten Player of the Year. I just have to try and slow him down.”

The Spartans will use a three-pronged approach to try and trip up Lawson. Lucas will get plenty of help from senior Travis Walton and freshman Korie Lucious to that end. Walton said MSU can not allow Lawson, the ACC Player of the Year, to put his team on its heels. Lawson is leading UNC in the postseason in points (20.8 per game), assists (7 per) and has committed a total of just six turnovers.

“You have to get back and corral him,” Walton said. “You have to try and stay in front of him and make his shots tough. You have to try and limit his opportunities because he’s so strong. He’s gonna try to bulldoze his way in.”

Lawson and Larry Drew draw the task of slowing Lucas, who has averaged a team-leading 14.4 points, 5.4 assists and 2.4 turnovers in the tournament. Their greatest concern is getting around Spartans ball screens, Lawson said. But that’s not their only issue when it comes to checking Lucas.

“He gets to the lane, can shoot the pullup and is also real quick,” Lawson said. “I think his speed [is a concern] because he gets up and down the court like me. It’s tough to guard that.”

The notion that the Big Ten is a plodding league has proven preposterous during this tournament as MSU ran over Big East powers Louisville (64-52) and UConn (82-73). As good as those teams are, North Carolina – another No. 1 seed – is better and faster. A game that gets into the 80s probably would not bode well for the Spartans this time. MSU’s hallmarks of defense and tenacity on the glass will be more important than ever. It all begins in the backcourt.

“It’s just going to come down to us playing hard, playing physical, playing our style of basketball,” Lucas said.

Nothing halts speed faster than a brick wall.

Lucas called Lawson the best point guard in the nation and most consider the Tar Heels the best team. In order for the Spartans to pull the upset, another deep, gritty effort from Tom Izzo’s gang of guards will be paramount.

“If we play good and they play good, we’re losing,” Izzo said. “I don’t look at that in the negative. They are the best team in the country and have earned that rank probably over a year and a half.

“But we have found a way to have some teams not play as good against us.”

Izzo, who has outwitted Rick Pitino and Jim Calhoun to get here, had better come up with another answer.

And fast.