The No. 19 women’s basketball team is in a battle with No. 23 Dayton, as the Spartans lead the Flyers, 34-23. However, it wasn’t the crowd or the sound of a swooshed jump shot that was heard the most — it was the refs’ whistle.
With a win over No. 1 Kentucky in the Champions Classic mere days prior and a real shot at reaching the top of the polls, the No. 2 MSU basketball team faced a 26-22 halftime deficit to Columbia at home Friday night.
Despite a 9-0 run to start the game, the No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team spent much of the game on upset alert in its 62-53 win against Columbia.
MSU trails Columbia 26-22 at halftime. Senior center Adreian Payne leads the Spartans with nine points, five boards, and a pair of steals and blocks.
It’s been 4,965 days since the MSU men’s basketball team has been ranked the top team in the nation. But if the No. 2 Spartans (2-0 overall) beat Columbia (1-1) and Portland (1-1) this weekend, MSU most likely will reclaim the No. 1 ranking. The last time an MSU squad has topped the polls was on Jan. 7, 2001.
The No. 19 MSU women’s basketball team didn’t look as sharp in the second half as they did in the first, but they still cruised to a 102-54 win against Canisius Thursday night. MSU came out of the locker room slow, and allowed the Golden Griffins to hit a pair of 3-pointers right out of the gate.
?It’s been a three-point shooting spectacle in the home opener for the MSU women’s basketball team as they lead Canisius 61-22 at the half. Five different Spartans tickled the twine from 3-point land.
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.
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.
CHICAGO – Being No. 1 can be a difficult task. The pressure and expectations can be overwhelming. After Tuesday’s Champions Classic, MSU might have to face all of the above next week.
CHICAGO – The old dog showed off its new tricks, using its experience and seasoning to withstand a late comeback from a group of talented young pups. Or young Wildcats, to be more precise. The No. 2-ranked MSU men’s basketball (2-0 overall) team toppled No. 1 Kentucky, 78-74, in the first game of Tuesday’s Champions Classic at Chicago’s United Center.
It did not take long for No. 1 MSU to take the lead against No. 1 Kentucky, and at the end of the first half Tuesday night at the Champions Classic in Chicago, MSU leads 44-32. MSU opened the game on a 10-0 run thanks to a floater by sophomore guard Gary Harris, and a steal and breakaway dunk by senior guard Keith Appling.
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.
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.
As the men prepare to take on top-ranked Kentucky, Suzy Merchant and the No. 20 MSU women’s basketball team will face its own challenge Monday night. The Spartans will open their season against No. 7 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. in South Bend, Ind.
Each and every day, Travis Trice is working to prove himself. On a team with four- and five-star talent, such as Gary Harris, Keith Appling, Adreian Payne and Branden Dawson, Trice can sometimes be lost in the shuffle.
After talk of redshirting this season, freshman guard Alvin Ellis III will not redshirt his freshman year. The six-foot-four guard was a late signee to last season’s recruiting class after originally having committed to Minnesota. However, Ellis chose to look at other options after Tubby Smith was fired in March, and eventually signed on with MSU in late April.
This time last year, Branden Dawson and Travis Trice were coming off of a summer where neither were able play and develop. Dawson, a junior forward, was recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in the final regular season game against Ohio State during his freshman year.
The No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team pushed the pace — and cruised to a win. The Spartans (1-0 overall) won the first home opener at Breslin Center since 2010 by beating McNesse State, 98-56.
The No. 2 MSU men’s basketball team came out of the gates pushing the tempo and shooting a plethora of threes, and lead McNeese State, 52-25, in the first half of the college basketball season. Immediately after the tip, senior guard Keith Appling found sophomore guard Gary Harris for an open 3-pointer – his first of three in the half. The Spartans kept shooting from downtown and finished 8-16 from beyond the 3-point line. MSU also kept the pressure on the Cowboys offensively.