High: MSU opens the season with an offensive explosion, scoring more than 100 points in its first three games against Florida A&M, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Nicholls State.
Six Spartans scored in double figures against Wisconsin-Green Bay, including 18 from senior swingman Alan Anderson, who missed just one shot, a 3-pointer.
Low: MSU then drops its next two games in a disappointing fashion to Duke and George Washington, the second loss coming in the BB&T Classic in Washington, D.C.
The Spartans defense gave up a season-high 96 points to the Colonials.
The game led to the benching of junior center Paul Davis and sophomore guard Shannon Brown for the next day's game against George Mason.
High: The Spartans rattles off seven straight wins, including three against future NCAA Tournament participants Stanford, UCLA and Delaware State.
In the last win of the streak, an 87-58 win over Northwestern, MSU made more field goals than the Wildcats attempted.
Junior guard Maurice Ager had 18 points, and the Spartans improved to 2-0 in the Big Ten.
Low: In arguably the lowest moment of the season, MSU blows an eight-point lead in the final minutes and loses to Wisconsin, 62-59.
The defeat against the Badgers was the game that would set off a firestorm of controversy about the team's senior class.
Brown had a chance to tie the game as time expired, but his 3-pointer rung out of the basket. Davis was the lone bright spot in the game, scoring 20 points and grabbing five rebounds.
MSU head coach Tom Izzo was visibly upset the next day at his weekly press conference, saying that after his team was blitzed, he was going to blitz the media.
The hangover continued in the next game against Purdue, as the Spartans struggled with the lowly Boilermakers, picking up a seven-point win.
Brown and Ager combined for 42 points, leaving Izzo to, "Thank God for Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager."
High: MSU finally gets a monkey off its back with a 77-64 beating of Wisconsin on Feb. 24. Anderson shot 10-for-10 from the field and finished with 28 points, the most a player scored in a single game this season for MSU.
It was the team's first win over a ranked opponent in its last 12 tries. The win improved the Spartans' overall record to 20-4.
Low: With six seconds left and the game hanging in the balance, Anderson misses two critical free throws in the team's 71-69 loss in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.
Anderson missed five free throws in the game, bringing up more questions about MSU's mental toughness.
High: The Spartans put aside the tough loss to the Hawkeyes and runs off four straight NCAA Tournament wins to advance to the Final Four in St. Louis.
MSU, picked by many to not even make it out of the first round, handled both Old Dominion and Vermont in Worcester, Mass. before overcoming both Duke and Kentucky in classic games in the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight in Austin, Texas.
Then, in the Final Four, MSU was overmatched by eventual national champion North Carolina, 87-71.
Matt Bishop was a State News men's basketball reporter. Reach him at bishop20@msu.edu
