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Sports | Basketball Men's 1000

SPORTS

Icers gear up for weekend series in Alaska

The Great White North. No, not Canada - Alaska. It's where the MSU hockey team has been since Wednesday, gearing up for its weekend series against Alaska Fairbanks starting today at 11:05 p.m. Adjusting to the time difference - Alaska is four hours behind - prompted MSU head coach Rick Comley to hit the road two days ago despite MSU holding a 10-2 advantage at Alaska. "Players are so tired when you get there - they want to sleep constantly during the day," Comley said. "It's what you do with the trip mentally.

SPORTS

Manz, Williams lead track teams to Iowa

Following a strong performance at this past week's Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame, the MSU men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Ames, Iowa this weekend to compete in the 14th annual Iowa State Classic.

SPORTS

'U' to fight for rivalry sweep

Rivalries are built on passion, respect and hatred, and the MSU-Michigan matchup in women's basketball is no different. "It's an in-state battle," sophomore guard Lindsay Bowen said.

SPORTS

Haynie calmly leads No. 17 Spartans

Quiet and unassuming are words that come to mind when looking at junior point guard Kristin Haynie. Until you watch her play. It's then you realize this soft-spoken athlete runs the show for one of the nation's top 20 teams.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans shine when forced to play down

The MSU hockey team has been close to perfect in holding its opponents off the score sheet when the Spartans play with one man down. MSU is killing off penalties at a rate of 94.6 percent (35 out of 37) since the UMass-Lowell series on Jan.

BASKETBALL

Spartans take road, seek revenge against Illinois

The past is in the past, or so the saying goes. But the Spartans say last year's game against Illinois in Champaign isn't erased from their memories. It's a game that MSU would like to forget, but for the sake of revenge, the team has scrapped through a year's load of memories to bring the 70-40 shellacking to the forefront of its brain. At one point, the Spartans trailed 69-28 with less than three minutes to play in the game before ending the contest on a 12-1 run. "Oh, we remember," senior center Jason Andreas said.

SPORTS

Spartans tie record with national ranking

The No. 17 MSU women's basketball team tied the school record for the highest ranking in the program's history on Monday afternoon. The last and only time the Spartans (18-4 overall, 8-3 Big Ten) were ranked this high was March 16, 1977.

SPORTS

Grapplers struggle, fall twice in matches

The MSU wrestling team lost a 19-13 match to No. 21 Purdue on Sunday. Juniors Craig Trombly and Matt McCarty won their first dual meet victory and Big Ten dual competition of the season, respectively. At Oklahoma on Friday, the Sooners trumped MSU, 29-6.

SPORTS

'U' uses depth, defense in victory

The No. 20 MSU women's basketball team beat Northwestern for the second time this season, but this time it was a little easier. "Our defense there was just horrible because we weren't adjusting to what they were doing," junior guard Kristin Haynie said.

SPORTS

'Lucky bounce' results in 2-1 win, sweep for Icers

Detroit - This time, there were no fluke goals, no weird tips and no hat tricks. Just a hard-fought game and one lucky bounce that equated to the MSU hockey team's 2-1 victory over Lake Superior State (6-15-5, 4-13-3 CCHA) in front of 7,954 fans at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Saturday's game wasn't nearly as close to the offensive matchup Thursday when the Spartans (17-14-1, 13-8-1) took the 8-5 win in Sault Ste.

SPORTS

Football year is over, but moments live in off-season

The NFL season is officially over - but what an intriguing season it was. Yeah, we have NBA action hot all over the country and can look forward to MLB opening day, but the 2003-04 football season brought a lot of events, entertainment and controversy many will continue to discuss throughout the off-season. So, in tribute to what this fall was comprised of, here are things to miss, anticipate and simply remember - because some of those rather unique or surprising events of the year aren't likely to happen again. The year of the underdog They came up short in the biggest game, but the breakthrough of a team coming off six not-so-pro-football years - a team that was just 1-15 two years ago - created a myriad of stories. The Carolina Panthers began their journey to professional worthiness when the team hired general manager Marty Hurney and former New York Giants defensive coordinator John Fox. In his first-ever head coaching job, Fox immediately took control, bringing the Panthers to an improved 7-9 finish in 2002 and a remarkable 11-5 close as the 2003 NFC Champions. In addition to the team's on-field struggle in recent years, one teammate (Fred Lane) was murdered, another was charged with conspiring to commit murder (Rae Carruth) and most recently, linebacker Mark Fields, as well as linebackers coach Sam Mills, were diagnosed with cancer.

SPORTS

Spartans rely on good passing

MSU's shooting was nearly flawless in its win against Ohio State - and part of the reason why had nothing to do with the shooters' release, elevation or even whether the ball went in. Izzo said the Spartans have become a better passing team and it is no coincidence their shots have been falling more.

SPORTS

Gymnastics records season-best on vault

The Spartans gymnastics team placed third Friday at the 2004 State of Michigan Classic in Ann Arbor with a score of 195.525. Sophomore Sarah Alexander earned third place with 39.250 in the all-around, and tied for first place in the beam event. The Spartans posted 49.00 during the floor event, while individually, Alexander tied for fourth place with a 9.90 score. The team placed third on vault with a season-best score of 48.825.