Although final exams come every year, dealing with them this season was a much different story for MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo.
Florida Gulf Coast head coach Karl Smesko came into Sunday’s game with MSU looking to make the Spartans’ offensively-passive guards hit outside shots by packing in the paint. He came to regret that decision less than three minutes into the game.
Outside, temperatures plummeted to the low teens and a bone-chilling wind chill was enough to keep anyone indoors.
Four of the five players on the first team come from the program’s best team in 2004-05. Liz Shimek and Lindsey Bowen are the top two scorers in program history, and Kristen Haynie was the cornerstone of that team.
It’s only right that the decade’s best team is well-represented on the All-Decade team. Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson already have had their numbers retired, and Charlie Bell also might get that honor some day, but he gets knocked out of the starting lineup for Alan Anderson — just barely.
Throughout her college career, Liz Shimek kept getting better. Her success helped bring the MSU women’s basketball team to a level of national prominence previously unseen.
Everything MSU was missing during its sluggish effort Sunday against Indiana was there — and more — Wednesday night against No. 8 Xavier. The Spartans brought the energy, excitement and enthusiasm that head coach Suzy Merchant thought was missing Sunday in a dominating 66-53 win against the Musketeers Wednesday night at Breslin Center.
The MSU men’s basketball team’s past two games against mid-majors have been closer than expected for the No. 12 team in the country. Thursday’s game against Oakland will be no different.
The MSU men’s basketball team knew The Citadel’s 3-point shooting would give the Spartans fits Monday.
In the span of three days, the MSU women’s basketball team went from a game it’ll always remember to one it can’t wait to forget. The Spartans opened Big Ten play against Indiana on Sunday but failed to capture the magic they had against North Carolina, despite head coach Suzy Merchant calling it the team’s most important game to this point.
The MSU men’s basketball team is on the road once again. But instead of playing at North Carolina’s Dean Edwards Smith Center or in Atlantic City, N.J., the Spartans are heading to a small military college for their next challenge.
Nathan Dahlman needed to sit. The excitement of the past few hours, in which he saw his two sons, Isaiah, a senior guard on the MSU men’s basketball team, and Noah, a junior forward for Wofford, play against each other Friday evening had been too overwhelming.
Although there still are 18 days until Christmas, the MSU women’s basketball team gave Indiana the biggest present it’ll receive this year. Following their big win against North Carolina on Thursday, head coach Suzy Merchant said the No. 22 Spartans played without the same energy, enthusiasm and excitement as they did against the Tar Heels.
A rivalry has been developing between the basketball programs at MSU and North Carolina the past few seasons. Tuesday the Tar Heels men’s basketball team continued its dominance by beating MSU for the third time in the past two seasons.
The MSU women’s basketball team announced Wednesday that fans who show their MSU Federal Credit Union credit/debit card at the Breslin Center ticket office today will receive two free tickets to tonight’s 8:30 p.m. game between No. 22 MSU and No. 4 North Carolina.
It might not be as intense as the Michigan rivalry, but the MSU vs. Northern Michigan rivalry is growing.
The MSU men’s basketball team fell to No. 9 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday, while Kansas remained atop the poll for the third straight week.
MSU women’s basketball head coach Suzy Merchant pointed to junior forward Kalisha Keane as her team’s biggest x-factor during its two wins in the Junkanoo Jam last weekend.
For the past few seasons, head coach Tom Izzo vehemently has defended the Big Ten, saying the conference is as strong as any in the country.
The No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team split a pair of weekend games at the Legends Classic in Atlantic City, N.J., bouncing back with a convincing win Saturday against Massachusetts after being upset by Florida on Friday.