Sometimes at the NCAA tournament, it isn't the game on the court that generates the excitment.

Certainly Michigan State’s decisive 61-49 first round win over Marquette had little to commend it to a full house at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. There were few signs indicating Marquette belonged in the tournament, let alone seeded higher than No.9 Michigan State, which advanced to play North Carolina on Saturday at approximately 8:20 PM.

The Spartans pitched a shutout for nearly the first 10 minutes of the game, until reserve guard David Cubillan hit a 3-pointer at the 10:19 mark to pull Marquette within 14-3. The freshman from Venezuela hit a trio of threes to lead all scorers in the first half.

But, more often than not, when the Golden Eagles shot they laid an egg. With players named Fitzgerald, James and Kinsella, the eighth seed was more notable for its literary last names than for its offense. Facing the best defensive squad in the Big 10, Marquette made 21.1 percent from the floor in the first half and failed entirely to hit a 2-point field goal. For the game, Marquette shot 31.9 percent and had 15 turnovers compared to 7 assists.

Further hurting its prospects, Tom Crean’s squad played without injured starter Jerel McNeal, the Big East Defensive Player of the Year.

Michigan State lost 6-11 reserve Idong Ibok to an arm injury during the first half, but had no trouble scoring inside against Marquette. Tom Izzo's Spartans got 20 of their 30 points in the paint during the period, reflected in 60.9 percent shooting accuracy. The hit 53.7 percent for the game.

Each of these programs appeared recently in the Final Four, and lost to a team coached by Roy Williams. Marquette fell to Kansas in 2003 and Michigan State lost to North Carolina in 2005, the occasion of UNC’s last No.1 seed and national championship.

While Michigan State handily dispatched Marquette, fans at Joel Coliseum monitored the overhead scoreboard as Virginia Commonwealth chased Duke in the West Region. Given the preponderance of fans wearing North Carolina blue, it was no surprise that each hint of success by the Rams sent a small trill of excitement coursing through the crowd.

As time ran down in the Duke-VCU game, hordes of media members who had lost interest in the MSU-Marquette rout deserted their courtside seats and gathered around a television set in the press room. Cheering is forbidden on press row. But when VCU’s Eric Maynor made the decisive jumpshot with just under two seconds remaining, a roar of approval erupted from the gathering of professionals hidden from public sight.

A few minutes later, with 23:02 remaining before UNC and Eastern Kentucky tipped off, the public address announcer shared the news of the Duke defeat, eliciting a great roar from the paying crowd.