Spartans fans — what is your profession? It could be to grab the foam finger, body paint, rowdy rags, hair dye and Sparty helmet — there’s no other game at Breslin Center quite like this one.
Emotions will be running high for the MSU women’s basketball team when it meets Illinois tonight for its regular-season finale. Not only is position on the line for the Big Ten Tournament, but also it will mark the last home game for seniors Courtney Davidson and Alisa Wulff.
Every time Tom Izzo travels to Madison, Wis., he takes a number with him. That number — zero — is the amount of victories the MSU men’s basketball head coach has brought home with him on those road trips in the last seven seasons.
When most people return to their alma mater in hopes of a new career, they trade their current lifestyle for one full of books and term papers. Antonio Smith, on the other hand, decided to swap his basketball shoes for football cleats.
When a basketball player misses a shot, every person in the paint is supposed to attack the boards in a fight for the ball, correct? That theory, which MSU women’s basketball head coach Suzy Merchant has described as being far from “rocket science,” has been ignored by her team more often than not.
Five wins, 17 losses. It’s no secret – conference road games haven’t been one of the MSU men’s basketball team’s strong points the last three seasons. And the road games won’t get any easier while the team finishes up its Big Ten season, as the Spartans still travel to Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio State – in three arenas known to rattle the opposition.
The number 300 has a whole new meaning for Spartans fans. Surrounded by MSU administrators, dozens of former Spartan basketball players and his family, MSU head coach Tom Izzo angled his head upward and focused his eyes on one of Breslin Center’s overhead screens. Izzo had just obtained his 300th win Saturday afternoon at the arena.
In the Big Ten race, the MSU men’s basketball team might almost be out — but the Spartans are going into every game like they have everything to play for.
After gaining momentum to put together a train of wins, the MSU women’s basketball team’s streak was halted at four by Purdue on Sunday. The Boilermakers (15-13 overall, 11-6 Big Ten) took revenge and then some against the Spartans (17-12, 9-8) — setting the record straight as they shut down MSU, 69-59, to split the season series.
Murphy’s Law was in full effect for the MSU women’s basketball team Sunday against Purdue
There seemed to be some extra emotion at Breslin Center Saturday afternoon.
MSU head coach Suzy Merchant had no reason to be “scared to death” going into Thursday night’s game against Northwestern at Breslin Center.
It’s 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon in the Duffy Daugherty Football Building weight room, and less than a dozen MSU athletes are working out. Aisha Jefferson, a 6-foot-1 junior forward on the MSU women’s basketball team, has already been going hard for close to an hour, and the perspiration is building on her forehead.
Iowa comes into Breslin Center with a record of 1-3 in its last four games and — just like any good coach — Todd Lickliter knows what the problem is: defense.
Mike Kebler hit a jump shot with less than a minute to go Wednesday night, extending the MSU men’s basketball team’s lead against Penn State to 86-47.
Oh, how things change when Penn State doesn’t attempt 51 free throws in a game. The MSU men’s basketball team kept the fouls to a minimum and the high-speed to a maximum, defeating the Nittany Lions, 86-49, Wednesday night at Breslin Center.
The MSU women’s basketball team will look to extend its winning streak to four games tonight against Northwestern. After alternating wins and losses for much of the Big Ten season, the Spartans have won three straight for the first time since late November.
The season’s women’s Big Ten race is turning into a mad dash. Usually by now there are about two or three teams that have any chance at first place and have anywhere from zero to two losses. Not this year.
After two straight losses and a locker room full of hung heads, maybe all the MSU men’s basketball team needs to bounce back tonight against Penn State is a little magic.
MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo had much to say at his weekly news conference Monday, but there was one significant word that echoed — turnover. Coming off the first back-to-back losses of the season at Purdue and Indiana last week, Izzo said he spent the rest of the weekend reviewing what the No.