Summers of Slam: His dunk does in the Huskies
Durrell Summers has dunked the ball thousands of times in his life.
Maybe tens of thousands of times.
"In high school I was getting maybe five dunks a game,"
said the 6-foot-4 Michigan State sophomore forward from Detroit.
With under six minutes left to play Saturday night at Ford Field, in front of the largest crowd -- 72,456 -- ever to see a Final Four game, Summers found himself with the ball and only Connecticut's 6-9 strongman Stanley Robinson between him and the basket.
"I just tried to probe him into it,"
Summers said. "He was backing up and didn't know what I was going to do. I tried to explode up as high as I could. I felt I was going to make it or get fouled. I went up aggressive and whatever happened, happened."
Summers took off like a rocket and Robinson leapt, too.
"He contested it,"
Summers said, "and I was able to make it."
Summers' flying slammer from the pike position gave MSU a 10-point lead and served as a message-basket as the second-seeded Spartans went on to an 82-73 victory over No. 1 seed UConn.
The dunk may have been a statement by Summers, but he had two other monumental plays that helped MSU (31-6) move into Monday's NCAA championship game.
With UConn making a comeback late in the game, Summers rose above everyone -- including UConn's 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet -- to grab a crucial defensive rebound.
"Coach kept telling me every play as the game was winding down: 'Rell, get me a big rebound,' "
Summers said. "I kept trying to go after them and I was able to go up and get that one."
It was certainly a key rebound, but Summers wasn't finished. UConn closed the gap to three points with 1:08 remaining when Summers raced down the court and converted a three-point play with 1:00 left to take the steam out of UConn's attack.
Just before he made his move to the basket, Summers saw MSU coach Tom Izzo signaling for him not to take the ball to the basket.
"I think coach was kind of indecisive,"
Summers said. "He was like: 'Pull it out, no, no.' But I felt I had him on my back so I went up strong and finished them."
Summers finished with 10 points -- all in the second half -- and six rebounds. But the basket Summers will talk about for the rest of his life will be the dunk.
"That one's at the top of my list,"
Summers said, smiling. "I think that was a game-changing play. Everybody came alive and momentum kind of swung our way."
