Wednesday, December 31, 2025

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Basketball

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Column: Role players step up for MSU in road win

It took a mob. It couldn’t have been just two people to make noise in place of Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne against the Hawkeyes on the road – it needed to be a mob. Luckily for MSU, the Byrd took the slew of role players on his wings down the stretch.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

MSU sees contributions from other players with Dawson, Payne on bench

Sophomore guard Gary Harris and senior guard Keith Appling might have carried the No. 3 MSU men’s basketball team as far as they could Saturday night, but it was the unsung heroes that nearly pulled the game out. Players like junior guard Russell Byrd, freshman guard Alvin Ellis and freshman forward Gavin Schilling stepped up and mad big plays to keep the Spartans in it. “I had some guys who stepped up,” head coach Tom Izzo said.