SAN ANTONIO ? Michigan State’s Aloysius Anagonye knows the tingle of being a national champion, from the excitement of cutting down the nets to the pressure of trying to repeat.

Anagonye was a freshman reserve when the Spartans won the NCAA title in 2000 and a starter the next season when they returned to the Final Four. Now a senior, he’s two wins from getting back again.

Yet his next obstacle is defending national champion Maryland and a group of players not ready to give up their crown.

“Until somebody beats us, it’s ours,” said Drew Nicholas, the Terrapins’ leading scorer. “We play with that chip on our shoulder, that it’s still our title.”

Maryland’s bid to keep it will collide with Michigan State’s bid to get it back tonight in the Alamodome. The winner of the late game in the South Region will play Sunday against either Texas or Connecticut for a spot in New Orleans.

Despite having combined for four Final Four appearances and two titles the last three seasons, both rosters have turned over so much that the sixth-seeded Terrapins (21-9) and seventh-seeded Spartans (21-12) had to beat higher-seeded teams to get this far.

Michigan State made it look easy, beating Colorado by 15 points and Florida by 22 in what coach Tom Izzo called two of his team’s best performances of the season.

Maryland needed a three-pointer by Nicholas at the buzzer to beat UNC-Wilmington, then looked like a champion in dominating Xavier in a 13-point victory.

Nicholas credits the championship pedigree for keeping him from ever considering that the Terps would lose the opener. He said Thursday he was “so in tune to what we had to do” that the thought never crossed his mind, not even during a timeout with 5 seconds left and Maryland down by one.

Izzo remembers how hungry his 2001 team was to carry on the championship tradition despite a new cast. He sees many of those qualities in Maryland, which lost four starters. Three of the replacements were key reserves, including Nicholas.

“It’s harder to knock off a team with experience, that has been there before — as long as they’re not cocky. And I can’t imagine Gary Williams would allow them to be cocky,” Izzo said.

Michigan State's Aloysius Anagonye jokes during practice. The Spartans will play Maryland today in San Antonio.