After being absent from the starting lineup for the first time this season, Becca Mills and Annalise Pickrel made their presence felt off the bench for the Spartans against No. 15 Purdue on Sunday.
The No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (17-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) was unable to pull off the upset in Bloomington, Ind. Sunday afternoon, falling to No. 7 Indiana (18-2, 6-1), 75-70, before a capacity crowd at Assembly Hall.
The boos echoed throughout Assembly Hall every time he touched the ball. The chants rained down as he stood at the free throw line for the first time, less than two minutes into the game.
Kiana Johnson did her best to carry the No. 25 MSU women’s basketball team to a win in its first-ever trip to Nebraska tonight. In their first game as a ranked team since the end of 2011, the Spartans fell to Nebraska 59-54.
With first place in the conference on the line, the Spartans’ trip to Assembly Hall could be the team’s biggest challenge of the young conference season.
There are several times each season when a team can signal a distinct turning point of the year, often coming through a signature win against a marquee opponent. The No. 13 MSU basketball team is staring at a huge opportunity for one this weekend at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.
It took longer than he initially expected, but Branden Dawson is starting to figure things out. After spending months searching for his game following a torn anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, in his left knee in last year’s regular season finale, the sophomore guard/forward said he began feeling more comfortable the past two weeks, and the results have shown on the court.
As the No. 25 MSU women’s basketball program travels to play Nebraska tonight, it can only hope the second-ever meeting with the Cornhuskers goes as well as the first.
Tom Izzo is among the most highly-respected and intelligent minds in the game of college basketball. After nearly two decades and 429 victories at the helm for the MSU men’s basketball team, there’s not a lot of disputing that.
For several weeks, MSU head coach Tom Izzo has emphasized the importance of Keith Appling putting together a consistent game from start to finish.
After hanging on the fringe for most of this season, the MSU women’s basketball team has cracked the Associated Press Top 25 poll this week. The No. 25 Spartans (16-2 overall, 4-1 Big Ten)are ranked for the first time since the final poll of the 2010-11 season.
The tough Big Ten gauntlet continues for the No. 13 MSU men’s basketball team (16-3 overall, 5-1 Big Ten), as the Spartans travel to Madison, Wisc., to take on the Badgers (13-5, 4-1). Join tonight’s live chat to get up-to-the-minute updates on the game and share comments and questions with The State News’ men’s basketball reporter, Josh Mansour.
It’s one of the most common and difficult barriers in all of collegiate athletics: the freshman wall. A talented freshman excels for the first several months of the season before experiencing a sudden and noticeable decline. Though difficult to predict when it might happen or the reason behind its occurrence, it’s a physical barrier facing many of college basketball’s diaper dandies.
The buzzer sounded as the ball miraculously floated through the net.
The MSU women’s basketball team kicked off a challenging four-game stretch that features three road games with a 56-46 win on Sunday at Indiana behind sophomore guard Kiana Johnson’s15-point performance.
An impressive all-around outing from sophomore guard Kiana Johnson powered MSU to a 56-46 win at Indiana Sunday afternoon. Johnson paced MSU (16-2 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) with 15 points while adding five assists and four rebounds. The Spartans’ win begins a stretch that includes three road trips in the next four games.
There are a few times each game where Adreian Payne shows off how good he can be. Although sometimes lost in moments of frustration or general fatigue, there are the moments when Payne throws down a dunk or dishes a nifty pass or, more recently, fires a shot from beyond the 3-point line that reminds head coach Tom Izzo of the player he once recruited.
The Spartans might not know who their leading scorer will be each night. They might not know where they’ll finish in the crowded Big Ten. They might even continue to be the “strangest” 16-3 team Tom Izzo has ever coached. But one thing they know for sure — when the game is on the line, Keith Appling delivers. The junior guard came through in winning time again Saturday night, scoring MSU’s final six points to carry the No.
Keith Appling stood at the free throw line, stared straight ahead and exhaled deeply. After being hounded all night by Ohio State’s Aaron Craft, MSU’s junior guard had the chance to get the last laugh. Appling delivered. Calmly sinking both free throws, Appling sealed a big victory for the No.
Sparks of MSU offense bookended the first half, as the Spartans used back-to-back fast break baskets to take a 30-26 lead over No.