MSU lacking defensive identity
Tom Izzo’s version of the MSU men’s basketball program was built on defense. After back-to-back 20-point losses and five losses in six games, the defense is the biggest culprit.
Tom Izzo’s version of the MSU men’s basketball program was built on defense. After back-to-back 20-point losses and five losses in six games, the defense is the biggest culprit.
The No. 11 MSU women’s basketball team is excelling in almost all aspects of the game this season. It hold the highest national ranking in the Big Ten, id second place in the conference standings and among the top five in the league in most of the statistical categories.
It was same story, different venue for the MSU men’s basketball team. Following a 20-point loss at Iowa on Wednesday, the Spartans lost, 82-56, at Wisconsin on Sunday. For the sixth-straight game, a Spartan opponent made at least 49 percent of its shots.
The No. 11 MSU women’s basketball team faced off against Purdue in a battle of the Big Ten’s best defenses and came away with a 76-57 victory.
One day after the MSU’s 72-52 loss to Iowa — a loss head coach Tom Izzo called “embarrassing” — the Spartans had the day off from practice. Instead, with a game at Wisconsin looking on Sunday, they gathered at the Alfred Berkowitz Basketball Complex for three hours of meetings. “We just met and talked about what we wanted to do,” junior forward Delvon Roe said.
Recently-dismissed junior guard Korie Lucious is in Ames, Iowa visiting Iowa State.
The scene was set for a night to remember for Badger fans, defeating one of the best teams in the country, remaining in a tie for first place in the Big Ten and allowing head coach Lisa Stone to celebrate her 500th career victory.
About two and a half months ago, the MSU men’s basketball team had a team evaluation meeting. Players were told areas they needed to work on. Sophomore center Derrick Nix decided to write down the needed improvements and hang them above his locker so he remembered.
After the MSU men’s basketball team lost to Michigan for the first time in three years last Thursday, I wrote that it couldn’t get any worse for the 2010-11 Spartans. A little less than one week later, it’s pretty obvious I jumped the gun with that conclusion.
The Hawkeyes (9-13 overall, 2-8 Big Ten) pounded MSU (13-9, 5-5), 72-52, in Iowa City, Iowa on Wednesday night.
The No. 11 MSU women’s basketball team is fully rested after a full week off and ready to return to the court when it travels to Wisconsin on Thursday. The Spartans (18-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) travel to Kohl Center where the Badgers (12-9, 7-2) haven’t lost a game since Dec.
Despite a major snow storm across the Midwest, the MSU men’s basketball team’s game against Iowa will be played as scheduled, with an 8:30 p.m.
After traveling through a snowstorm to take on Iowa at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Iowa City, Iowa, the MSU men’s basketball team will be welcomed by a new-look Hawkeyes team. Typically a team that prefers to milk every second of the shot clock before firing a shot, first-year head coach Fran McCaffery has Iowa playing a slightly different style. “They’re more up and down,” MSU senior guard Kalin Lucas said.
Throughout the last decade of Tom Izzo’s tenure as head coach of the MSU men’s basketball team, the Spartans arguably have become the most feared program in the Big Ten. However, fresh off two-straight conference championships, MSU finds itself in an unusual position this year — struggling in the middle of the Big Ten.
Even in women’s basketball it’s never too early to talk about March Madness. The No. 11 Spartans suffered their third loss of the season at the hands of No.
With 2.9 seconds left in regulation of Sunday night’s 84-83 win against Indiana, Draymond Green — a junior forward for the MSU men’s basketball team — had every right to be nervous. The No.
The No. 25 MSU men’s basketball team defeated Indiana, 84-83, in overtime Sunday at Breslin Center. Senior guard Kalin Lucas led MSU with 26 points while Indiana was led by Christian Watford’s 21 points. The win snapped a three-game losing streak for MSU.
The core of a Final Four team was back: Senior guard Kalin Lucas was healthy, and future hall of fame coach Tom Izzo had turned down an offer from the NBA to come back more determined than ever. Yet somehow Thursday night, that potential dream season, which already had been more rocky than anyone expected, officially became a nightmare.
It was déjà vu for the No. 10 MSU women’s basketball team on Thursday night at Carver Hawkeyes Arena. The Spartans again found themselves with a chance to beat No. 18 Iowa, but again it would take last second heroics.
For the first time in 12 meetings in East Lansing, the Michigan men’s basketball team defeated No. 25 MSU, 61-57, Thursday night at Breslin Center.