The MSU women’s basketball team got one last day of practice in before facing off against Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Breslin Center. Playing on a court that no longer bared the familiar “S” in the middle of the court, the team worked diligently on working against pressure, something that Middle Tennessee does as well as any team in the country.
Throw conferences, strength of schedule and RPI out the window. When coming up against the top scorer in the nation, you can’t help but take notice. The MSU women’s basketball team will do just that in its first round NCAA Tournament game against Middle Tennessee State on Sunday, taking the floor against star junior forward Alysha Clark, who leads the nation with 27.3 points per game. In addition, she averages 9.8 rebounds per contest.
Minneapolis — Before heading back to the locker room after pregame warm-ups, MSU sophomore guard Chris Allen has a little ritual: He always takes the last shot.
Minneapolis — To this day, Travis Walton remembers the MSU men’s basketball team’s 81-67 loss to North Carolina in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The now-senior guard said he played awful as a sophomore point guard on that team, hanging his head in despair as the Spartans’ deficit grew deeper and deeper.
Minneapolis — All season long players on the MSU men’s basketball team have been saying they have depth. On Friday night they went out and proved it.
Minneapolis — It’s been several years since Jimmy Langhurst played AAU ball with Raymar Morgan, but the Robert Morris guard said he hadn’t forgotten what type of ability Morgan possessed. Now, maybe the rest of the world will remember. Morgan completed a furious alley-oop dunk on the first play of the game and never hit the brakes, scoring a team-high 16 points to motor No. 2-seed MSU past Robert Morris 77-62 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at the Metrodome.
Minneapolis — When it comes to getting coverage, Robert Morris men’s basketball head coach Mike Rice knows where his team stands.
MSU head coach Tom Izzo couldn’t help but laugh when told of what Raymar Morgan said to the media Thursday afternoon at the Metrodome. Morgan, a junior forward on the MSU men’s basketball team, said the Spartans have played exceptionally well during their last two practices.
Step right up and take your shots at Raymar Morgan. You won’t be the first. Call him too sensitive — it’s not like the junior forward hasn’t heard that one before. Compare his up-and-down play to the stock market, a jab taken at him by a TV commentator earlier this year. Even snicker that he has invented “new ways to travel,” a quip authored by a Sporting News reporter before the season even started. Say whatever you want — just don’t expect Morgan to listen to you.
Finally, Joanne P. McCallie has come back to East Lansing. It’s been exactly two years since the former MSU women’s basketball coach has been on the public stage in East Lansing. That was following her team’s loss to Rutgers in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
Preparing to face the nation’s leading scorer and a team that loves to push the ball, the MSU women’s basketball team has had only one thing on its mind this week — transition.
A look at MSU’s first-round opponent, as well as a preview of the next round.
A look at MSU’s first-round opponent, as well as a preview of the next round.
For 17 years of MSU basketball games, Barry Greer has directed the Spartan Brass, jeered opponents with the Izzone, given high fives to players before games and offered coaching tips in the locker room after the buzzer. And he does it all with Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes a mental disability.
Like most coaches, Tom Izzo sits down before every season to evaluate his MSU men’s basketball team’s potential and predict wins, losses and where the Spartans can finish the season.
A collective cheer took a year’s worth of grief off the shoulders of the MSU women’s basketball team. After being left out of the NCAA Tournament last season, the Spartans were awarded a No. 9 seed this season and will play No. 8 Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the tournament.
Having trouble with your bracket? The State News is on the job. Men’s basketball reporters Alex Altman and Cash Kruth dissect this year’s field of 65.
The highs, lows and inconsistencies of the MSU men’s basketball team’s regular season are in the past. All that matters now is that the Spartans (22-6) are officially in one-and-done territory, learning Sunday evening they earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional, drawing No. 15 seed Robert Morris in the first round on Friday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
As the MSU women’s basketball team waits to hear its NCAA Tournament fate tonight, it has a lot to look forward to in what could be an exciting postseason.
With the Big Ten Tournament done and the NCAA Tournament on the horizon, men’s basketball reporter Cash Kruth examines four questions surrounding the Spartans as they look to rebound from a disappointing conference tournament with a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.