The Spartans secured a nationally televised statement win against No. 1 Kentucky, 78-74, on the strength of their experienced and versatile roster at the Champions Classic event in Chicago. If the No. 2-ranked MSU men’s basketball team (2-0 overall) can put away Columbia at Breslin Center on Friday, it should claim the No. 1 slot when the new rankings are unveiled Monday.
CHICAGO – Being No. 1 can be a difficult task. The pressure and expectations can be overwhelming. After Tuesday’s Champions Classic, MSU might have to face all of the above next week.
With eyes on a repeat championship, the MSU men’s soccer team kicks off the Big Ten tournament Wednesday afternoon.
It was mere days ago that the field hockey team clinched its first Big Ten Championship in four years.
Going on the road in Big Ten play, members of the No. 14 MSU football team often know what to expect from fans.
As a freshman, Branden Dawson was guarding one of the nation’s premier players on one of the largest stages. The now-junior forward was guarding North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes in his first collegiate game, as well as the first game ever played on an aircraft carrier in front of the President of the United States and a nationally televised audience. On Tuesday, No. 2 MSU will be back on the big stage, this time in Chicago for the Champions Classic against No. 1 Kentucky.
It’s safe to say Zach Bennett is one of the best goalkeepers in the country. The sophomore goalkeeper at the back of the No. 18 MSU men’s soccer team is ninth in the country in save percentage (.865), 15th in total saves (90), 17th in saves per game (5.29) and 32nd in goals against average (.769).
Just three days after winning $8.3 million in a poker tournament, Ryan Riess perfectly summed up how things are going in four words: “Life is a dream,” the 2012 MSU alumnus tweeted.
As his team prepares for tipoff in a highly touted contest against No. 1 Kentucky in Chicago, head coach Tom Izzo said Monday he can’t remember a non-Final Four matchup with as much national buzz as tonight’s Champions Classic is receiving.
Accomplishment. Pride. Happiness. Head coach Helen Knull said those three words are among thousands the team could use to describe winning the Big Ten Championship. But for three of the members of the field hockey team, perhaps a different word is more fitting: familiar.
Accomplishment. Pride. Happiness. Head coach Helen Knull said those three words are among thousands the team could use to describe winning the Big Ten Championship. But for three of the members of the field hockey team, perhaps a different word is more fitting: familiar.
As the men prepare to take on top-ranked Kentucky, Suzy Merchant and the No. 20 MSU women’s basketball team will face its own challenge Monday night. The Spartans will open their season against No. 7 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. in South Bend, Ind.
The fall of 2012 wasn’t kind to the MSU women’s soccer team. Three players suffered anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, tears across a stretch of games, an injury becoming increasingly common in women’s athletics. Then-sophomore Lisa Vogel and then-senior Kelsey Kassabf each tore an ACL. Kassab tore hers just one game prior to teammate Jessica White’s, while Vogel tore hers in a game against Iowa. In only her third soccer match in a Spartan uniform, White suffered her torn ACL, something female athletes face more than men.
Each and every day, Travis Trice is working to prove himself. On a team with four- and five-star talent, such as Gary Harris, Keith Appling, Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson, Trice can sometimes be lost in the shuffle.
In their first trip to Michigan Tech in almost 30 years, the MSU hockey team came away with a pair of losses this weekend. The Spartans (3-5 overall) fell 3-0 on Friday night, followed by a 3-2 overtime loss to the Huskies (3-6-1 overall, 1-1 WCHA) on Saturday.
Junior libero Kori Moster entered the Spartan record books last Friday. With 24 digs in the team’s 3-1 victory over Northwestern, Moster topped former MSU volleyball outside hitter Veronica Morales to become MSU’s all-time digs leader.
After its second bye week, the MSU football team moved up three spots to No. 14 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. The Spartans (8-1 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) have slowly ascended the polls by building a five-game winning streak since their Sept. 21 loss at Notre Dame.
As the MSU football team took a bye week to catch its breath, the rest of the Big Ten carried on this weekend, providing matchups that could be strong indicators of how the conference will wrap up. Multiple teams made moves to jockey for a spot in the Big Ten Football Championship Game while others looked to move into bowl eligibility or salvage their respective season with a win.
After talk of redshirting this season, freshman guard Alvin Ellis III will not redshirt his freshman year. The six-foot-four guard was a late signee to last season’s recruiting class after originally having committed to Minnesota. However, Ellis chose to look at other options after Tubby Smith was fired in March, and eventually signed on with MSU in late April.
For the first time since 2009, the MSU field hockey team is Big Ten Champions. Senior midfielder Adelle Lever scored the game-winner with less than eight minutes left in the game to clinch the Big Ten Championship for MSU over Iowa, 3-2.