Florida Florida/Michigan State Michigan St Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

The Spartans (6-0) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 17 games and earned their 34th consecutive victory at the Breslin Center, which trails only Utah's run of 54 wins in a row at home.

Both teams lost two star players to the NBA draft, but clearly returned plenty of talent to be considered elite teams this season.

After Michigan State beat Florida 89-76 in the title game in at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, it purchased the floor and gave it a new paint job.

It's tough to be better than the best, but Michigan State's Charlie Bell said this team is better than the one that won the national championship.

"If you look at all the guys top to bottom, everybody is better at each position," said Bell, who scored 20 points. "Marcus (Taylor) and Zach (Randolph) are going to help us out a lot. If we get them to play like that every night, there's no doubt in my mind we can win the national championship."

Florida coach Billy Donovan didn't really disagree.

"They're not nearly as good as they were in April," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "But they have the potential to be better than they were in April."

Michigan State's freshmen duo of Randolph and Taylor complemented their unquestioned talent with surprising poise off the bench. Randolph scored 27 points, on 10-for-13 shooting, and grabbed seven rebounds while Taylor had 15 points and seven assists.

"Both of their freshmen were phenomenal," Donovan said.

Florida (3-1) led for the first five minutes of the game, but Michigan State was in control for the rest of the game. The Gators trailed by double digits for almost the final eight minutes.

Brent Wright led the Gators with 18 points. Teddy Dupay returned from a one-game suspension to score 17 while being booed every time he touched the ball. In the title game, Dupay got tangled up with Mateen Cleaves, sidelining the Spartans' star for several minutes with a sprained ankle.

Dupay said the raucous crowd didn't make a difference.

"They outplayed us on the court," Dupay said.

Matt Bonner added 17 points for Florida. Udonis Haslem, who scored 27 points in the national championship game, fouled out with 12:35 left. Haslem scored just 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting.

Donovan and Haslem did not like the way the game was officiated.

"They allowed those guys to be a little more physical with us," Haslem said. "I feel like they called a lot of touch fouls. I can't help my team playing only 13 minutes."

After Michigan State had little trouble with Florida's press in the first half, the Gators chose not to press until they trailed by double digits with eight minutes to go.

"I think we wore them down like we did in the championship game," Bell said.

Michigan State made 55.4 percent of its shots and outrebounded Florida 37-26.

"It's hard to complain about how we played because I think we did a lot of things well," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.

Florida got off to a good start. It led by as much as six and did not trail until Bell made a 3-pointer five minutes into the game to give Michigan State a 13-12 lead.

The Gators' final lead was 16-15 at the 13:19 mark.

Michigan State led 48-40 at halftime.

Bonner scored the first five points of the second half to cut Florida's deficit to three, but they wouldn't get closer.

Michigan State then took command of the game with 12-4 run, which gave them a 60-49 lead.

Each time the Gators came within a couple of baskets of Michigan State, it would find a different offensive to maintain the lead. Often, it was one of Michigan State's freshmen who scored critical baskets.

The game marked the 16th time national finalists have met the following season. The defending national champions are 11-5 in such games.

Izzo and Donovan are the only coaches left from last season's Final Four. Wisconsin's Dick Bennett retired last week while North Carolina's Bill Guthridge retired after last season.

ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard

Florida Clubhouse

Michigan State Clubhouse

Vitale: Zach Attack leads Spartans over Gators

AUDIO/VIDEO
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Michigan State's Jason Richardson throws it down on the break.
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Florida's Justin Hamilton draws contact and gets the bucket to drop.
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Charlie Bell drives in for the hoop and the foul.
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Andre Hutson grabs the offensive board and slams it home.
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Tom Izzo talks with ESPN's Dick Vitale after the victory over Florida.
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ESPN's Jay Bilas breaks down the Michigan State-Florida rematch Wednesday night.
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