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Sports | Basketball Men's 1027

SPORTS

Field hockey blanks RedHawks, advance to NCAA first round

The improbable postseason run continues. Two games after scoring a game-winner against Ohio State to clinch the Big Ten Championship, junior forward Allie Ahern scored a team-high two goals to lead MSU (13-9 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) to a 3-0 shutout over Miami (OH) to propel the Spartans from the play-in round to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Appling plays big against Wildcats

CHICAGO — He might have said No. 2 MSU didn’t have anything to prove, but Keith Appling proved a little something to the many NBA scouts in attendance for MSU’s 78-74 win against No. 1 Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night. While many scouts were at the United Center in Chicago to see likely lottery picks, such as Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins and Julius Randle, MSU’s senior point guard quietly posted one of the best games of the night and of his career.

BASKETBALL

4 takeaways from MSU's win over Kentucky

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.

BASKETBALL

Champions Classic will face off experience with new talent

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.

MEN'S SOCCER

Bennett continues to star in net for MSU

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).

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Izzo, MSU looking for No. 1 spot

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.

SOCCER

The long road back

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.

ICE HOCKEY

MSU hockey drops two games at Michigan Tech

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.

FOOTBALL

MSU moves up to No. 14 in AP Poll

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.