As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Matteen Cleaves held the ball in his hands, making sure he left Magic Johnson’s old stomping grounds in the same manner the Flintstone did the last time he wore Spartan green: victoriously.
After men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo spent most of his weekly press conference sharing his excitement about the return of his mentor this weekend, an accident has resulted in a change of plans.
Before the No. 19 MSU basketball team took the floor Wednesday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Tom Izzo vowed he’d have a much fairer evaluation of his team than he did on Saturday against Nicholls State. But even after the No. 19 Spartans thoroughly routed the Golden Lions on Wednesday evening at Breslin Center, the veteran head coach didn’t like what he saw.
As is the case for many college basketball teams this time of year, there still are kinks to be worked out by head coach Tom Izzo and the No. 19 MSU basketball team. However, in the nonconference season, aside from a few games, it’s often hard to find a fair point of evaluation.
Extra practice time isn’t something basketball players usually are fond of.
Changes might be on the horizon for the No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (5-2) after falling to Miami (4-1), 67-59, in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday night.
A 14-2 spurt to open the second half was too much for the No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (5-2) as they fell to Miami (4-1) 67-59, Wednesday night in Coral Gables, Fla.
A low-scoring first half has the No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (5-1) edging Miami (3-1) 31-27 at the end of the first half. The game marked the return of guards Gary Harris and Travis Trice from injury for MSU, with Harris making a buzzer-beating layup to end the half and double the Spartan’s lead. Harris finished the first half with a team-high five rebounds and five points, while Trice made a 3-pointer. Both teams got off to a slow start, as the Spartans and Hurricanes combined to make two of their first nine shots along with six turnovers in the game’s opening four minutes. From there, it was a back-and-forth game for the rest of the first half, with the largest lead a five-point margin in favor of MSU after Harris made a 3-pointer to put the Spartans in front 28-23 with 3:31 to go in the first half. Junior Keith Appling and sophomore Branden Dawson were the top scorers for the Spartans in the first half, with each guard tallying seven points. Guard Durand Scott led the way for Miami with 11 points and four rebounds for the Hurricanes.
Since naming senior center Derrick Nix and sophomore guard Russell Byrd as co-team captains at the team’s media day in October, head coach Tom Izzo has seen leadership emerge from several different places across the roster.
The biggest scare the MSU men’s basketball team (3-1) received Tuesday wasn’t from a closer-than-expected game against Boise State (3-1), but from “a shoulder injury to star freshman guard Gary Harris in the game’s opening minute.
There was plenty of drama for Derrick Nix in Sunday’s victory over Texas Southern. Unfortunately, most of the drama played out with Nix on the bench, as opposed to anything done on the floor or measured in a stat sheet.
It’s become a staple of the Tom Izzo era.
A season after playing the first outdoor college basketball game on an aircraft carrier, the No. 14 MSU men’s basketball team kicked off its 2012-13 campaign inside Hanger 5 at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
Keith Appling is in rare company. Being a point guard in the MSU basketball program, the names of his predecessors read like a Mount Rushmore of achievement, forever carved into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame.
The State News was able to link up with a few former MSU athletes to see what post-East Lansing life has been like for them.
Since the moment he arrived on MSU’s campus, a fire has been burning within Draymond Green. A meticulous broil, the burn fueled the ascent of a chubby, brace-faced kid from Saginaw into the NABC Division I National Player of the Year in four short, but memorable years.
Green, a former MSU basketball player and 2012’s Big Ten Player of the Year, was selected 35th overall by the Golden State Warriors in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft Thursday night.
The announcement today from ESPN and the MSU Athletics Department that the men’s basketball team will be traveling to Germany for its 2012 season opener has many saying, “Athletics Director Mark Hollis has done it again.”
MSU men’s basketball assistant coach Dwayne Stephens has been elevated to the role of associate head coach, the athletics department announced on Tuesday.
Former MSU men’s basketball player Brandon Wood was arrested Sunday morning after an altercation outside a residence near downtown Chicago.