Berkeley, Calif. — Though it was more than 2,000 miles from East Lansing, the MSU women’s basketball team spent much of its time Friday morning talking to the press about what happened back in Michigan.
Berkeley, Calif. — Typically, the tallest person — by far — for the Iowa State women’s basketball team often on the floor is 6-foot-4 starting forward Nicky Wieben. But as of Friday, that may not even be the case.
The MSU women’s basketball team got one last practice in Wednesday before it left for Berkeley, Calif., to meet Iowa State in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. The Cyclones, who are 26-8 on the season and finished in third place in the Big 12 with an 11-5 conference record, are very guard-oriented and remind the Spartans a lot of Middle Tennessee State, the team MSU beat in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Eight seasons after the MSU men’s basketball team won the national championship, the days of preparation leading up to the 2000 title game are still firmly etched in Brian Gregory’s mind.
During his career with the MSU men’s basketball team, senior forward Marquise Gray has learned a thing or two about dealing with criticism. A superstar caliber athlete coming out of Flint Beecher High, Gray came to MSU with the world on a string. Jaw-dropping athleticism, brute strength, a soft touch around the basket — Gray had it all.
Former MSU associate coach Brian Gregory and his Dayton Flyers pulled an upset over six-seeded West Virginia in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, but the No. 11 seed lost 60-43 to Kansas in the second round.
Bill Self hasn’t been around a lot of big men during his 16 years coaching NCAA men’s basketball. That might mean the praise he gave Cole Aldrich — when the Kansas coach said he can’t compare Aldrich to anyone — isn’t too impressive.
Senior center Goran Suton’s dominant defensive performance against Southern Cal didn’t strike fear into the heart of Kansas’ center Cole Aldrich. In fact, the Jayhawks star center said he’s looking forward to his individual matchup with Suton.
The State News dubbed the MSU women’s basketball team’s win over Duke on Tuesday as head coach Suzy Merchant’s “signature win.”
It is March Madness, but Tuesday night at Breslin Center was much more than an upset win for the MSU women’s basketball team.
They said it would take everything they had. On Monday, Aisha Jefferson said no team shows up in March Madness with more hustle than an opponent — it would come down to mental focus.
It had to be perfect. To beat No. 1-seed Duke, the No. 9-seed MSU women’s basketball team had to limit turnovers, storm the glass and play staunch defense.
This late in March, no team is fully reliant on one or two players. Yet while Kansas has a lot of young, skilled players on its roster, there is no question that guard Sherron Collins (18.9 points per game) and center Cole Aldrich (14.8 ppg) make the team work.
It didn’t take much for MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo to put Kansas’ midseason improvement into perspective for his team. In fact, all it took were two words: North Carolina.
The MSU women’s basketball team (21-10) will take on Duke (27-5) at 7:16 p.m. tonight at Breslin Center in a battle between a No. 9 and No. 1 seed.
Facing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament already is difficult enough, but the MSU women’s basketball team is facing another obstacle — the team it will play, Duke, has a coaching staff that knows the ins and outs of most of the roster.
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.
Junior center Allyssa DeHaan has been often criticized for her lack of toughness and inability to come through in big-game situations — and sometimes rightfully so. But in the MSU women’s basketball team’s first round NCAA Tournament win on Sunday, Middle Tennessee State coach Rick Insell said that was not the case.