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Keady makes final trip to Breslin Center as coach

January 18, 2005

It will be the end of an era tonight at Breslin Center.

The No. 19 MSU men's basketball team will say farewell to Gene Keady, when the legendary Purdue head coach makes his final appearance in East Lansing as his 25-year career as coach winds down.

Keady owns a 25-21 all-time record against the Spartans.

"I'm looking forward to playing Purdue," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "I'm looking forward to Gene coming in. I hope our fans give him the respect before the game that he deserves, and I hope they give him the respect during the game that he deserves - which is none and I mean that with total respect."

Keady was complementary of the Breslin Center faithful.

"The fans always treated me great up there," Keady said. "We had a lot of fun."

MSU senior guard Chris Hill said he's sad to see Keady go.

"Coach Keady is one of the most outstanding coaches in the Big Ten," Hill said. "I'm sure everyone around the Big Ten and fans of the Big Ten are sad to see him go."

Purdue (4-10 overall, 0-4 Big Ten) has struggled through conference play thus far, dropping games to Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota before falling 75-73 in double overtime to Indiana on Saturday.

MSU (10-3, 2-1) is coming off a tough 62-59 loss at Wisconsin on Sunday in a game that had Izzo questioning his team's grit. Izzo cited senior guard Tim Bograkos and junior forward Matt Trannon as examples for the rest of the team.

"It still takes a blue-collar approach to win big games," Izzo said. "That is what we're going to try to get to. If that means those guys have to play a little more, then that's the way we'll go."

Purdue has fallen victim to a grueling schedule, playing Cincinnati, North Carolina State and Oklahoma in the nonconference season. Even when matched with lesser opponents, Purdue struggled, only beating Evansville by one point and losing to Baylor by the same margin.

The Spartans returned to practice Monday morning and tried to wipe the memories of the day before out of their minds.

"It still lingers a little bit," junior center Paul Davis said. "It's good we have another game right away.

"It's a good turnaround."

Izzo said MSU plans to honor Keady before the game but would not provide specifics. Keady told his fellow coaches at the Big Ten coaches' meeting that he did not want to see two things in a pregame presentation.

"I told them at the Big Ten meeting, I don't want rocking chairs or watches."

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