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Sports | Men's Basketball

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Column: Role players step up for MSU in road win

It took a mob. It couldn’t have been just two people to make noise in place of Branden Dawson and Adreian Payne against the Hawkeyes on the road – it needed to be a mob. Luckily for MSU, the Byrd took the slew of role players on his wings down the stretch.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Men's basketball loss triggers sense of urgency

Matt Sheehan
January 27, 2014

Two days after sitting in the locker room with tears in his eyes after losing to Michigan, senior guard Keith Appling was nearly all smiles at Monday’s press conference. But just because he was wearing a smile doesn’t mean the pain of MSU’s 80-75 loss has gone away. “That’s a game not only myself, but my teammates wanted that win very badly,” Appling said.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Izzo right to be proud of players

Matt Sheehan
January 26, 2014

When MSU fans were sulking after the 80-75 loss to No. 21 Michigan, Tom Izzo took the podium to address the heartbreaking game. “In the 30 years I’ve been here, I’ve never been more proud of a team,” he said. Wait, what? MSU just dropped a game against their rival to fall behind in the Big Ten title race, and he used the word “proud?” Well, as weird as it seems to say after losing such a marquee game, he’s right on the money. There is no question the Wolverines deserved to win Saturday’s game — they hit all the shots when they needed to in front of the delirious Breslin Center crowd. Yet at the same time, the Spartans took a few steps in the right direction without two of their biggest players. Missing two starters in Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson, Izzo was forced to play some guys who usually only see the court during warmups. Besides Gary Harris’s 27 points and Keith Appling’s double-double, freshman guard Alvin Ellis was the bright point during a loss at the hands of the Wolverines. To be honest, Ellis looked like anything but a first-year player.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

MSU sees contributions from other players with Dawson, Payne on bench

Zach Smith
January 25, 2014

Sophomore guard Gary Harris and senior guard Keith Appling might have carried the No. 3 MSU men’s basketball team as far as they could Saturday night, but it was the unsung heroes that nearly pulled the game out. Players like junior guard Russell Byrd, freshman guard Alvin Ellis and freshman forward Gavin Schilling stepped up and mad big plays to keep the Spartans in it. “I had some guys who stepped up,” head coach Tom Izzo said.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

GameDay visit brings former Wolverine Rose back to East Lansing

Matt Sheehan
January 24, 2014

Before he was an analyst on ESPN’s College GameDay, Jalen Rose spent his college days playing for one of Michigan’s greatest teams. Now, with the show heading to East Lansing, Rose is spending some time back in enemy territory, and MSU fans are making sure he knows it. “People are going to say stuff, or say ‘Hey Jalen, what you doing up here?’ or remind me of games where they won or when they yelled things at me,” Rose said while meeting with the media on Friday.