The Illinois men’s basketball team finally has its identity back. After a pair of disappointing seasons, during which the Fighting Illini finished with a combined 14-20 Big Ten record despite a roster simmering with experience and talent, they are back to doing what they do best: playing tenacious defense.
Former MSU great Morris Peterson will have his No. 42 jersey retired before the No. 7 MSU men’s basketball team’s game against Illinois at 4 p.m. Saturday at Breslin Center.
The lead dwindled from 17, to 10, to four, until the MSU men’s basketball team found themselves in familiar territory — another tightly contested game at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.
Rivalry week has arrived for the MSU women’s basketball team. The Spartans head to Ann Arbor for the first of two matchups with Michigan tonight and hope to fair better than their last trip to Crisler Arena, a 64-55 U-M win.
Travis Walton has not forgotten. The memory of watching Penn State’s student section storm the court after his team’s devastating 85-76 loss in State College, Pa., last season left a sour taste in the senior captain’s mouth — one that he’s been eager to rinse out.
Former Spartans and fellow Flint natives Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson took a chance on MSU head coach Tom Izzo when no one else would, helping turn a struggling basketball program into one of the nation’s elite.
The MSU men’s basketball program will retire the jersey of former Spartans great Morris Peterson prior to Saturday’s game against Illinois at Breslin Center, MSU Athletic Communications announced Monday.
In its 75-62 win against Kansas on Saturday at Breslin Center, the No. 8 MSU men’s basketball team set the pace with a dynamic first half en route to a 19-point halftime lead.
There wasn’t one instant or one specific moment that it clicked for Allyssa DeHaan. It just happened. The 2007-08 season had been tough on the 6-foot-9 junior center, who struggled to find herself on the court, in the classroom and in her relationship with God.
It’s said that defense wins championships. Throw in rebounding and you have the recipe for a pretty strong basketball team. And to get to March this season, the MSU women’s basketball team is going to need to continue its strong performances on its end of the court.
With a national audience tuned in and the defending national champions in town, the MSU men’s basketball team wanted to make a statement. The one it made was loud and clear: “We’re bringing back our old style of basketball a little bit,” senior guard Travis Walton said. “We’re playing hard, and every time we touch the floor, we’re going to play tough.”
MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo has a gripe with the new Associated Press Top 25 rankings. For once, it has nothing to do with him feeling his team was slighted. “It’s a joke that (Kansas isn’t) rated,” Izzo said about the Jayhawks, who will travel to East Lansing to take on No. 8 MSU at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After an up and down start to the Big Ten season, the MSU women’s basketball team was looking for a spark Thursday night against Northwestern. The Spartans were trounced in their last game, losing 67-49 at Ohio State, and were looking to avenge a 62-48 home loss to Indiana.
The MSU women’s basketball team’s season, in which it finds itself 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, has boiled down to one issue: consistency. Last week’s slate of games proved that point, as the team beat preseason conference favorite Purdue 68-62 on Thursday and then promptly got annihilated by Ohio State 67-49 on Sunday.
Junior forward Raymar Morgan netted another double-double Friday, becoming the first MSU player to accomplish the feat in three straight games since Paul Davis during the 2005-06 season. Morgan scored 13 points and collected 10 rebounds for the No. 8 Spartans, who defeated Ohio State 67-58 Tuesday night at Breslin Center.
During the his team’s Big Ten home opener against Ohio State on Tuesday, MSU men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo said his team lost focused and looked tired. To put it in Izzo-talk, most of his team lacked “zip.” That is, except for sophomore guard Kalin Lucas.
Raymar Morgan scored 22 points and Kalin Lucas added 17 as the MSU men’s basketball team bounced back from a halftime deficit Saturday to defeat Northwestern 77-66 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.
Leading by one at halftime, the No. 10 MSU men’s basketball team (10-2 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) opened the second half with an 8-1 run against No. 21 Minnesota (12-1, 0-1) en route to a 70-58 win in its Big Ten regular season opener at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
The MSU women’s basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season Monday at Breslin Center as Indiana devoured the Spartans on way to a 62-48 blow out. Entering the game, the match looked to be formidable with the two teams leading the Big Ten in each of the major statistical categories.