The No. 18-ranked men’s basketball team is preparing to take on the Navy Midshipmen in what will be the opening game of the 2014-15 season.
The game will mark the beginning of head coach Tom Izzo’s 20th season at the helm in East Lansing. Over his 19 seasons, Izzo has compiled a 468-187 overall record and a 221-101 record in the Big Ten.
This is only the second time in MSU’s long history that the Spartans will play the Midshipmen. In their only other meeting, Navy defeated MSU 91-90 in overtime Nov. 29 1986. That Navy team was lead by former National College Player of the Year (1987) David “Admiral” Robinson.
The Navy Midshipmen represent the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Junior guard Bryn Forbes said he expected the team to display a large amount of discipline that translates to the court.
“I absolutely expect (Navy) to play hard,” Forbes said. “I expect them to be disciplined — you know you think about them being the Navy.”
As most athletes at Navy must serve an active-duty obligation, MSU freshman forward Marvin Clark Jr. said he has a lot of respect for their commitment to this country and he appreciates that with the game being played at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, where it will serve as entertainment to the other Naval Academy students.
“It’s going to be a hard-fought game, we’re not taking them for slouches at all,” Clark Jr. said. “They’re players that sacrifice and put their life on the line for our country, so they’re going to bring it.
“I really appreciate that we get a chance to play in front of people that put their life on the line for our country and we get a chance to entertain them, that’s the biggest I can take from this (opportunity),” he said.
Izzo said this experienced Navy team will present a challenge for the Spartans as the Midshipmen are returning five starters from the previous season.
“This team is going to be a challenge for us because they’ve got five starters back,” Izzo said. “(The Midshipmen) have three players back that averaged more than 11 (points) a game.”
The Spartans have five games from Nov. 14 to Nov. 27. Izzo stated this tough schedule is almost like the NBA, giving the team a big test early on.
“We’ve got a tough opening schedule,” Izzo said. “We’ve got a lot of games coming up here in a short period of time, I think from Friday to the following Sunday we’ve got five games, that’s like an NBA schedule.”
