Senior guard Keith Appling gets picked up by his teammates after a fall during the game against Kentucky on Nov. 12, 2013, during the Champions Classic at The United Center in Chicago, IL. The Spartans defeated the Wildcats, 78-74. Khoa Nguyen/The State News
—For the first time in nearly 13 years, the men’s basketball team is sitting on top of the latest AP poll.
Despite a lackluster performance against Columbia, the voters still gave the Spartans enough love to crown them as No. 1. After Friday’s win that saw the Spartans down at halftime to the Ivy League team, head coach Tom Izzo said his team isn’t ready to handle the success.
“We just gotta hope now Kansas blows somebody out, so (the voters) move them ahead of us because we proved tonight we’re not ready to handle any kind of success, and that disappoints me,” Izzo said.
The top ranking was earned by MSU’s win over then-No. 1 Kentucky in the Champions Classic last Tuesday. The Spartans came out running and suffocating the Wildcats with their defense, leading to a 78-74 final.
After the win, senior guard Keith Appling put the possibility of the No. 1 ranking into perspective.
“We want to be No. 1 at the end of the season, not the beginning,” Appling said.
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