Michigan State showed it could play without Mateen Cleaves

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at the start of the season, when the star guard suffered a broken bone in his right foot in practice, and it wasn't about to let another Cleaves injury detour it from its year-old mission.

Not before 43,116 in the biggest game of the season inside the RCA Dome.

MSU's 89-76 victory over Florida gave the team its first national championship in 21 years. Cleaves came back from his sprained ankle, but when junior guard Charlie Bell took over at the point the Spartans didn't miss a beat.

That mirrored the regular season.

"That was nothing different," said Michigan State assistant coach Mike Garland, "because Charlie's been there."

That's also why Big Ten teams of recent seasons haven't pressed the Spartans. They've been there, and they know that Michigan State possesses some of the most athletic players in the league.

Florida's brass obviously bypassed the tape of Michigan State's 86-76 victory at North Carolina, another Final Four team, from Dec. 1. Had the Gators watched that scrimmage, they would have seen what happens to a team when it tries to run with the Spartans.

"We're a push team," Garland said. "We look to get that thing down there as fast as we can. That's our game. We knew this was a game we'd have a good chance in. Put it this way, we didn't think they'd beat us with their press."

The Gators didn't. Not with Cleaves in or out of the action, or with the bright Bell or Morris Peterson dribbling or making decisions with the ball, or with Andre Hutson playing traffic cop in the middle of the floor.

Put it this way: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo preaches a high-speed, up-tempo game every day in practice, which made a national-championship occasion a fine time for the Spartans to shift into a rare fifth gear.

"Once we get out and run, it's pretty hard to stop us," said Michigan State reserve guard Jason Richardson, who nailed 4 of 7 attempts for nine points in 16 minutes. That was Richardson's second-highest output in his last 16 games. "That's our style. We knew they wanted to run, and we'll run with anyone, anytime."

Michigan State also showed its reserve players can make a dent, too. Florida's bench had the scoring edge, 26-16. But the Gators hit only 9 of their 30 attempts off the bench.

"We hurt them," said Mike Chappell, a junior forward from Southfield, Mich., who transferred to Michigan State from Duke and scored five key points while Cleaves was down Monday. "I think we really hurt them."

And the Big Four for Florida -- Mike Miller and the three-guard tandem of Teddy Dupay, Brett Nelson and Justin Hamilton -- fizzled. Miller, Dupay and Hamilton combined to go 2-for-10 from the field.

Garland said the Michigan State staff put a big emphasis on shutting down that quartet.

"Especially Miller," he said, "and especially on offensive rebounds."

Only one of Miller's three rebounds came under the Gators' hoop. Miller had grabbed 43 rebounds in five NCAA Tournament games up to Monday.

That emphasis on Miller allowed Florida center Udonis Haslem to pound his way to a career-best 27 points, but the Spartans' hierarchy would have rather watched Haslem go crazy than allow any Gator on the perimeter to get hot.

That's what happened, and Florida never led.

"We had a gamble," Gators coach Billy Donovan said. "We watched a lot of tape. I did not see one team press them all year long, probably -- obviously -- for a good reason ... (and) every time we made a run, they answered. That's a sign of a great basketball team. A sign of great leadership."

MSU's Mateen Cleaves (right) sprains his ankle after getting tangled up with Florida's Teddy Dupay.(AP)

Cleaves powered the Spartans over the Gators for almost 24 minutes, but Michigan State didn't wilt or wail when Dupay's right foot nailed the right instep of Cleaves with 16:18 left to play.

That clash took place two or three seconds after Cleaves had been fouled by Nelson, but neither Cleaves nor Dupay slowed down.

The Spartans had been in that situation before, then they acted as if they'd been in a national championship game before, too, by not giving the Gators any leeway when Cleaves went to the bench.

"You know, it's not like we overpower people," Izzo said. "I think we're able to win different ways. Losing Mateen was hard."

Izzo was talking about October, not Monday night.

"It was hard to get him back, and get him back in sync," Izzo said. "Then it was hard to get him and the other guys in sync. But they battled through it. They're just a bunch of hard-working guys who want to get the job done."

Who weren't going to be affected when Cleaves went down again in the biggest game of the season. The Spartans had been there, and now they're where only one other Michigan State team has been.

With every other team in the country looking up to them.