Almost eight months, then-freshman guard Branden Dawson found himself on the floor of the Breslin Center court, just 10 minutes into MSU’s final regular season game against Ohio State.
Tom Anastos understands the MSU hockey team is on a learning curve. After losing nearly half the roster from his inaugural season, including star defenseman Torey Krug, that much is to be expected. But what Anastos won’t tolerate is lacking mental preparedness to compete, which he said plagued his team in Friday’s 3-2 loss to Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
As the month of October comes to a close for the MSU football team, it means more than just turning a page on a calendar. With only three games left in the season, the Spartans (5-4 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) are in the final stretch of the 2012 season, fighting for a chance to extend their season with a sixth win that would make them bowl eligible.
Just days before the first game of the season, the MSU women’s basketball team is dealing with a flurry of injuries that are changing the entire look of this team.
The MSU field hockey fell to Iowa last month, but now that the Big Ten Tournament is around the corner, it’s going to be a completely different ball game.
After a slow start, the No. 14 MSU men’s basketball team took off in its exhibition opener, rolling over Northwood (Fla.) 85-57 Tuesday night at Breslin Center.
MSU finished the first half leading Northwood 34-28, with Dawson’s highlight reel hardly limited to the game’s opening minute.
Every program has one or two players who set the bar high for the program and stand out in history. In the case of the MSU women’s soccer team, that program-changing player is Laura Heyboer.
They were never going to be in the ring at the same time, but the heavyweight bout for rushing supremacy between the Big Ten’s top two running backs was expected to go the distance.
After months of training and practice, the MSU men’s basketball team will play before a crowd for the first time Tuesday when the Spartans host Northwood in their first exhibition game of the 2012 season.
Coming into his freshman season, there were monumental expectations for Branden Dawson. The centerpiece of his recruiting class, the 6-foot-6, 220-pound slashing guard from Gary, Ind., was heralded as one of head coach Tom Izzo’s prize players in the pursuit of future NCAA Tournament runs. And his first season certainly didn’t disappoint.
Heading into Sunday afternoon’s game against Indiana, MSU men’s soccer (8-7-1) player Jay Chapman had yet to receive a collegiate point. The freshman midfielder hadn’t picked up a goal or an assist throughout his 12 games as a Spartan, and he apparently thought Sunday was the perfect time to put an end to that.
Highly touted freshman guard Aerial Powers will miss the 2012-13 women’s basketball season after tearing the Achilles tendon in her left heel.
Three players entered DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field for their last Big Ten game on home turf on Sunday afternoon.
“I’d rather win than be perfect.” MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio’s words hung in the air, lingering for a minute.
For Bennie Fowler, it couldn’t have been more perfect. It had been a tumultuous season for the junior wide receiver. After entering the season as MSU’s number-one target, Fowler was unseated from the starting lineup three weeks ago, benched in favor of freshman wideout Aaron Burbridge after registering too many dropped passes in the first five games of the season.
“Amazing.” It was the word senior midfielder Luke Norman used to describe freshman midfielder Jay Chapman’s performance — a performance that carried the MSU men’s soccer team (8-7-1 overall, 3-2-0 Big Ten) to a 3-1 upset win over Indiana.
Even after losing what head coach Tom Saxton regarded as his best recruiting class last year, he still had an ambitious attitude for what he wanted his team to accomplish.
It was a hard-fought weekend for the MSU volleyball team, but the Spartans left Indiana with one win and one heartbreaking loss on the weekend.
For junior Sara Kroll, brutally cold temperatures and off-and-on spurts of rain weren’t going to be enough to stop her from crossing the finish line first in the women’s 6000 meter of the 2012 Big Ten Cross Country Championships.