The phrase “Not to take anything away from Michigan State. They’re a good team …” came out several times after the Spartans dominated UNC. The 86-76 win at the Smith Center pitted the eighth-best team in the country against the No. 2 Tar Heels, after all, meaning that it was anybody’s ballgame because two good teams were featured.

But theSpartans didn’t have all-world point guard Mateen Cleaves on the floor, except when he hobbled across it on crutches supporting his broken foot. Michigan State came in losers at the Puerto Rico Shootout. The Tar Heels stormed to the Maui Invitational title and seemed to have key advantages in the marquee matchup of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The one advantage Carolina didn’t have was at the head coaching spot. So said Tar Heels leader Bill Guthridge in a moment of brutal honesty.

“The best team won tonight and by far the best coached team won tonight,”said Guthridge in praising Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. “Coach Izzo had his team very well prepared. Coach Guthridge didn’t have his team very well prepared. We were outplayed, we were outcoached. I thought they were tremendous.”

Guthridge’s statement sounded half right, at least. Michigan State is tremendous, and when Cleaves comes back there’s no telling just how far the Spartans will fly. Morris Peterson, who scored a career-high 31 points, is tremendous, and won the game with determination, intelligence and hustle.

n

Guthridge was wrong, however, when it came to placing the blame. So said Tar Heels center Brendan Haywood, who practically vanished on the stat sheet if not on the court despite his 7-foot, 264-pound frame.

“Coach Guthridge just takes the blame. We have to go out there and play,”said Haywood, who scored four points and grabbed one rebound in 25 minutes. “He tells us to hedge out on screens, he tells guys to fight through the screens. We didn’t do it. He tells guys to box out.

We didn’t do it.

“There’s nothing Coach Guthridge can do.

He can’t suit up, he can’t help us out there.”

Who knows? The diminutive Guthridge may have had an easier time sliding through some of the screens Michigan State set for Peterson. The 6-foot-7 forward darted all over the court and lost countless defenders en route to knocking down open jumpers. That played a big part in his 12-for-18 field-goal shooting.

“It was very frustrating, but it would have been better if I would have seen him hit shots with guys with a hand in his face,”Haywood said. “I saw Morris Peterson hit a lot of open jump shots. We have guys that can hit open jump shots.I saw Morris Peterson just grab boards. Where’s the box out?

“We didn’t play well fundamentally. Fundamentally, they really whipped us tonight.”

n

That’s where Guthridge saw himself at fault. Perhaps after reviewing game film, though, he’ll see how slow his players reacted, how time after time they stood under the basket waiting for a rebound to come to them instead of boxing out the eager, opportunistic Spartans.

“We can offensive rebound,”Haywood said. “I saw Morris Peterson get four, five offensive rebounds. Everybody can box out. It’s not just the big men, it’s the guards, everybody.”

Michigan State earned its 43-28 rebounding advantage, and the desire the Spartans showed for every loose ball might not be something Guthridge can teach. At least in that instance, Izzo is one step ahead.

“We have this drill called ‘War’ with five offensive guys and five defensive guys,”Peterson said. “Coach comes and just throws the ball up at the rim. Whoever gets it, you’re going to have chipped teeth, busted elbows … Coach really stressed that for us to come out here and rebound.

“The coaches did a great job of really preparing us and letting us know what (UNC) guys do.”

n

The end result of that preparation was that the Tar Heels didn’t do any of those things Michigan State expected because of the Spartan gameplan. Max Owens and Joe Forte knocked down occasional 3-pointers but didn’t dominate. Ed Cota was quiet with a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Jason Capel, Kris Lang, Brian Bersticker and Haywood did nothing down low.

No matter who accepts the blame for Wednesday’s loss, one thing is certain. The Tar Heels have to play better next time and do something else after the game — decide who gets credit for the win.

n