SPORTS
Swimming, diving teams lose meets
The MSU men's and women's swimming and diving teams had a rough weekend.In meets with No.
SPORTS
Super Bowl Sunday sure to please fans
I haven't been this excited about a sports weekend in quite some time. And lucky for me, and every other diehard sports fan, Sunday provides more than a few sparks - it's a double-dose of fireworks. First, of course, there is Super Bowl XXXVII.
SPORTS
State News sports desk tries to predict winner of Super Bowl
Michigan 75, MSU 59 ... ooohhh, the other game on Sunday! I thought the contest in Ann Arbor was the only one that mattered.
SPORTS
Team seeks victory over revenge-minded Indiana
Eight days after the MSU women's basketball team wiped the floor with Indiana at Breslin Center, the Spartans will try to complete a regular-season sweep. In the last meeting, the Spartans (9-7 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) came away with a 70-44 victory over the Hoosiers (9-6, 2-3). But sophomore guard Kristin Haynie said she knows some things will be different when the Hoosiers have home-court advantage.
ICE HOCKEY
Friend or foe: Irish on deck
MSU senior defenseman John-Michael Liles has plenty of friends on the Notre Dame hockey team - he was teammates with Fighting Irish forwards Connor Dunlop and John Wroblewski and defenseman Brett Lebda in the U.S.
BASKETBALL
MISSING THE MARK
To say the least, the MSU men's basketball team hasn't lived up to any of the preseason hype. In fact, they have turned Final Four aspirations into mediocrity.
SPORTS
Freshmen swimmers make a splash on team
Though swift and graceful in the pool, the sidewalk is a different story for freshmen Ian Clutten and Rudolf Wagenaar.Clutten and Wagenaar are from Capetown, South Africa, and aren't as excited with the weather at MSU as they are about everything else."The climate change has been tough," Wagenaar said.
ICE HOCKEY
2 defensemen taking on monstrous workload
Brad Fast and John-Michael Liles get more ice than Jay-Z's girlfriend. The multitalented senior defensemen have been MSU's main workhorses this year, logging far more minutes than any other Spartan not wearing goalie pads. Fast and Liles are MSU's top defensive pairing in that they play most of the important 5-on-5 shifts every game.
SPORTS
Spartans focused on knocking off another top-ranked team
For a team that has struggled on the road, it may be a relief the MSU women's basketball team returns home.Though No.
BASKETBALL
Spartans in need of a victory
Following three straight road losses, the MSU men's basketball team is limping back to Breslin Center with a do-or-die attitude for tonight's contest against Penn State at 6 p.m. The Spartans (9-7 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) are losers of five of their last six games and on the brink of starting the Big Ten season 1-4. Don't think it hasn't gotten to head coach Tom Izzo. Izzo again cited MSU's costly turnovers, spotty free-throw shooting and inconsistent field-goal percentage as thorns in the Spartans' side Monday.
SPORTS
Florida recruit sticks with Smith
MSU added some beef to its recruiting class Saturday, when offensive lineman Joe Toth from Florida's Port Charlotte High verbally committed to the Spartans during his visit to campus.Port Charlotte head football coach Ray Hixson confirmed Toth's commitment and said the 6-foot-3, 280-pounder chose MSU from a list that included Eastern Kentucky, Central Florida, Florida, Florida Atlantic and the U.
ICE HOCKEY
Slater becomes violent when 'ticked' off
MSU's most important players were dropping like flies against Nebraska-Omaha this weekend. But fortunately for MSU head coach Rick Comley and the vitality of Spartan hockey, no one was hurt too seriously. In Friday's first period, freshman left wing David Booth, senior defenseman John-Michael Liles and freshman defenseman Corey Potter all had to be helped into the locker room after incurring various injuries within a 73-second span.
ICE HOCKEY
Spartans make it five in a row
There's no "I" in "team," but superb performances by individual players were the driving forces behind MSU's commanding sweep of Nebraska-Omaha this weekend at Munn Ice Arena.Senior left wing Brian Maloney, who had two goals in 21 games before the series, scored three goals and added an assist this weekend.
SPORTS
Sports briefs
Spartans slide past Butler, spank RaidersThe MSU men's tennis team opened the season with a sweep in a home doubleheader. After falling behind to Butler in the first match, the Spartans (2-0) were able to sneak out a 4-3 victory over the Bulldogs. Against Wright State, MSU didn't drop a single set, routing the Raiders 7-0.
SPORTS
CCHA, beware of Comley's crew
Feel that trembling? It's emanating from fans in places such as Big Rapids, Marquette and Columbus, Ohio.
SPORTS
Winning on road still a problem for young squad
University Park, Pa. - The Spartans' youthful roster has overcome many obstacles this season, yet the MSU women's basketball team is still in search of success on the road, which has eluded it from the beginning of the season.The Spartans (9-7 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) have gone 6-2 defending their home court, but dropped five of eight when playing away from the friendly confines of Breslin Center.Junior forward Julie Pagel said failure on the road is not from lack of talent, but the inability to hold down the fort under pressure."We know that we have to play all 40 minutes of defense to win games," she said.
BASKETBALL
Lorbek adjusts to college basketball
On the court, in the classroom and in the locker room, MSU freshman forward Erazem Lorbek is making the adjustment from life and basketball in Europe to the spotlight of the Big Ten. The gangly 6-foot-10 native of Ljubljana, Slovenia, has worked himself into head coach Tom Izzo's rotation since coming to America in August, combining the finesse game he honed playing for Slovenian junior national teams with crashing Big Ten style. While Lorbek is soft-spoken because of the language barrier - sometimes he swears in what looks and sounds like equal parts of English and Slovenian after making the occasional mistake - he said that his adjustment to MSU basketball has been trial by fire. "It's a higher level," Lorbek said of the conference.
BASKETBALL
Anderson, teammates crumble under Golden Gophers' pressure
Minneapolis - Alan Anderson's homecoming was miserable - again. Against Minnesota, the sophomore forward spent most of his second trip to Williams Arena on the bench because of early foul trouble.
SPORTS
The Vet is a beast but won't get Eagles a ring
In 1971, a monster was born in the heart of Philadelphia.And this weekend will be the last time for anyone to see the monster in action.All you have to do is tune your TV to the NFC Championship game at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 3:00 p.m.
BASKETBALL
New Year's resolution: start winning
So far 2003 has been an awful year for the MSU men's basketball team. But luckily for the Spartans (9-6 overall, 1-2 Big Ten), it is only 17 days into the new year and there is plenty of time to turn things around. Since the beginning of the year, MSU is 1-3.