With nine minutes left and the season hanging in the balance, the MSU men’s basketball could have run its offense through a number of players. There was sophomore guard Kalin Lucas, the Big Ten Player of the Year who has been MSU’s Mr. Clutch throughout the season.
For once, Travis Walton was the offensive star on the MSU men’s basketball team. That meant it was someone else’s turn to be the unheralded defensive star.
Before his team suited up to take on Southern Cal, Marquise Gray called teammate Durrell Summers over for a little chat. “I told him we can kind of lean on each other,” said Gray, a senior forward. “Everybody has their struggles, so I just told him to go over there and play.”
Sherron Collins scored a game-high 25 points and Cole Aldrich collected a triple-double, leading Kansas to a 60-43 victory over Dayton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With the win, No. 3 seed Kansas advances to the Sweet 16, where the defending national champs will play MSU in Indianapolis.
By no one’s surprise, Travis Walton once again played a key role in a MSU men’s basketball team victory. Only this time it wasn’t by his stingy, lockdown defense.
Minneapolis — When it comes to getting coverage, Robert Morris men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice knows where his team stands.
MSU head coach Tom Izzo couldn’t help but laugh when told of what Raymar Morgan said to the media Thursday afternoon at the Metrodome. Morgan, a junior forward on the MSU men’s basketball team, said the Spartans have played exceptionally well during their last two practices.
Step right up and take your shots at Raymar Morgan. You won’t be the first. Call him too sensitive — it’s not like the junior forward hasn’t heard that one before. Compare his up-and-down play to the stock market, a jab taken at him by a TV commentator earlier this year. Even snicker that he has invented “new ways to travel,” a quip authored by a Sporting News reporter before the season even started. Say whatever you want — just don’t expect Morgan to listen to you.
A look at MSU’s first-round opponent, as well as a preview of the next round.
For 17 years of MSU basketball games, Barry Greer has directed the Spartan Brass, jeered opponents with the Izzone, given high fives to players before games and offered coaching tips in the locker room after the buzzer. And he does it all with Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a mental disability.
The highs, lows and inconsistencies of the MSU men’s basketball team’s regular season are in the past. All that matters now is that the Spartans (22-6) are officially in one-and-done territory, learning Sunday evening they earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional, drawing No. 15 seed Robert Morris in the first round on Friday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
With the Big Ten Tournament done and the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, men’s basketball reporter Cash Kruth examines four questions surrounding the Spartans as they look to rebound from a disappointing conference tournament with a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
After his team’s season-ending victory against Purdue, MSU senior guard Travis Walton made a bold guarantee during the Senior Day celebration. “We’re gonna raise another banner up in here,” said Walton, moments before the team hoisted its 2008-09 regular season championship banner into the rafters.
MSU sophomore guard Kalin Lucas has been crowned Big Ten Player of the Year, the conference announced Monday night. Lucas was a consensus pick for the award.
If you had told MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo at the beginning of the season that the Spartans would win the Big Ten by four games, he’d have called you crazy. If you had told him that after doing that, the team still wouldn’t have met his expectations, he’d probably think you were insane.
With the Big Ten Championship already locked up, MSU head coach Tom Izzo said he was going to tell his team Sunday’s game against Purdue was about one thing – the seniors.
The four seniors on the MSU men’s basketball team will be honored before Sunday’s regular season finale against Purdue for their contributions to the program. Three of them caught up with The State News to share their fondest memories from on and off the court.
Goran Suton had no idea what to expect when he first came to MSU in the summer of 2004. Although the now-senior center on the MSU men’s basketball team had attended Lansing Everett during the previous four years, the native of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina admitted he is still learning his way around the American lifestyle, let alone the college life.
Fresh off its Big Ten Championship-clinching win against Indiana on Tuesday, the MSU men’s basketball team will finish up its regular season at noon on Sunday against Purdue at Breslin Center.
About 1,000 members of the Izzone and MSU community came to Breslin Center late Tuesday night, staying through early Wednesday morning to greet the newly-crown Big Ten Champions following the Spartans’ 64-59 win over Indiana in Bloomington, Ind.