DENVER, Colo. - Michigan St leads Temple 35-26 at the half. After struggling through most of the first part of the half, MSU finally got hot with about seven minutes to go.

Drew Neitzel has three points, which he picked up on a long ball with 51 seconds left. However, he committed his second foul with 0.8 seconds left, which earned him a lecture from coach Tom Izzo (looking sharp with his electric purple tie).

Temple could build one with the bricks they layed in ths first half. They shot 8-27 for just short of 30%, and few of those 19 misses were close. Christmas and Tyndale both airballed threes and then complained about being fouled. Christmas was right. Not so sure about Tyndale. Those numbers would have been a lot worse, but Ryan Brooks hit three baskets for eight points late, and he leads the Owls with 10. Christmas hasn't scored and Tyndale only has 2.

Nine different players scored for the Spartans, led by six each from Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan. MSU backdoored the Owls for layups or dunks three times as Temple lost guys on defense. That play seems to be there whenever MSU wants it.

I don't want to harp on this, but this crowd would fit in well in a library. Even the Spartan fans aren't too geeked up. The place is filling up though.

In the press area, folks are gathered around the TV watching Georgia leading Xavier. The Temple folks were not too happy, with one guy in particular repeating, "they better wake up."