One more 'road' block

Over the past few years, road games have been UConn's Achilles heel.

Coming into the 2008-2009 campaign, the Huskies were just 8-12 on the road in the past two seasons.

This year, however, UConn reversed that trend when it lost just one away game (at Pitt on March 4) and established itself as a mentally tough team that could win in any environment. At then-No. 22 Notre Dame - check. The Huskies snapped a 45-game home winning streak for the Irish. At then-No. 5 Louisville - check, in a big way, 68-51. At then-No. 15 Marquette - check plus (A.J. Price's 35 points warrant the "plus.")

The Huskies (31-4) have one more roadblock, so to speak, before they can hoist their third National Championship trophy: a Final Four matchup with Michigan State (30-6) at Ford Field in Detroit - just 90 miles from the Spartans' on-campus arena - Saturday at 6:07 p.m.

Ford Field, which is expected to seat over 72,000 fans for the event, is by no means going to be a friendly atmosphere for UConn. It is the closest to home any Final Four team has played since Duke played in the 1988 Final Four in Charlotte.

"We expect 70,000 Michigan State fans," joked senior forward Jeff Adrien.

A.J. Price, the West Regional MVP, isn't too concerned with having to win in a rowdy (and green and white) atmosphere.

"We'll have a lot of people against us, but that's the way we like it, - us against the world," Price said. "The fans aren't out on the court playing. It will be us against Michigan State basketball."

And - all off-the-court distractions aside - the Spartans are well-equipped to give the Huskies all they can handle.

Michigan State, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, convincingly knocked off heavily-favored Louisville, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, 64-52 to advance to its fifth Final Four in 11 years. The Spartans were an impressive 15-3 in Big Ten play this season and have won 10 of their last 11 games.

Michigan State center Goran Suton, who is averaging 10.1 points per game, has enjoyed his two highest-scoring performances of the year in his last two outings. The 6-foot-10 center went off for a season-high 20 points in a Sweet 16 win over Kansas and followed that up with a 19-point, 10-rebound outing against Louisville.

"I think for Suton, he's always been a great player," said coach Jim Calhoun. "He's a good post player. But he's extended his game now to make him an incredible high-post player. He puts pressure on you. He'll make threes."

Indeed, Suton will put pressure on the Huskies, or more specifically, Hasheem Thabeet. UConn's 7-foot-3 National Player of the Year candidate has posed problems for most centers he's matched up with, but if there's one formula to negating Thabeet, it's dragging the big man out of the paint and forcing the UConn center to defend on the perimeter.

"We play against Harangody, a terrific player from Notre Dame," Calhoun said. "He does not go outside as much as Suton does. But nevertheless, he's a similar type player."

Despite the way Suton is playing, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo isn't 100 percent certain he'll be effective against the nation's second-leading shot-blocker.

"I can't sit here and tell you I know how I counter [Thabeet] because I just started watching a lot of film," Izzo said. "I agree with [Purdue coach] Matt Painter. I heard his interview after the game. He said he's a hard guy to prepare for. It's a hard guy to simulate in practice."

UConn shooting guard Jerome Dyson, who was once ruled out for the season with a torn meniscus in his left knee, is expected to suit up and go through warm-ups, but will not play.

"I am happy about that," Dyson said. "Really happy."