There must be something about head coach Tom Izzo's halftime speeches. In a scene repeated time after time this season, the Spartans sputtered from the opening tip until the first-half buzzer.
Champaign, Ill. - The Spartans figured they couldn't win every game with offense alone, and they got hard proof of that against Illinois. The Spartans (12-9 overall, 7-3 Big Ten) gave the Illini too many offensive opportunities, and Illinois (16-5, 7-3) took advantage, outshooting MSU on its way to a 75-51 win. MSU's defense has concerned coach Tom Izzo throughout the season, but the Spartans have recently overcome that with a high-powered offense.
The past is in the past, or so the saying goes. But the Spartans say last year's game against Illinois in Champaign isn't erased from their memories. It's a game that MSU would like to forget, but for the sake of revenge, the team has scrapped through a year's load of memories to bring the 70-40 shellacking to the forefront of its brain. At one point, the Spartans trailed 69-28 with less than three minutes to play in the game before ending the contest on a 12-1 run. "Oh, we remember," senior center Jason Andreas said.
Outside East Lansing, Glen Worley is just another college basketball player. Iowa's 6-foot-7 senior forward isn't recognized as a star or a prime-time player, and his numbers aren't gaudy.
When it comes to the expectations placed on college basketball coaches these days, perhaps Janet Jackson said it best with the title of her 1986 hit, "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" Coach Tom Izzo will have a chance to notch his 200th win as MSU's head coach against Iowa on Wednesday.
This isn't where MSU head coach Tom Izzo saw his team 16 games into the season. The Spartans (8-8 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) are out of the rankings and have been since mid-December.
West Lafayette, Ind. - The Spartans had the chance to make a statement to the Big Ten on Sunday afternoon, but they fumbled the opportunity. MSU had No.
The Spartans could be adding another big body to their rotation, just in time for the meat of the Big Ten schedule. Redshirt freshman forward Delco Rowley practiced for the first time Monday since spraining his left knee Dec.
Paul Davis had the look of a beaten warrior. Blood seeped through a small bandage covering his right eyebrow.
Refusing to be discounted as a Big Ten contender, the Spartans delivered another dominating win, tossing their hat into the tight conference race. MSU (7-7 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) followed up an 18-point win over Penn State on Wednesday with a 71-54 mauling of Michigan on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time since the end of November that MSU put together back-to-back wins and the first time the Spartans began living up to the No.
The Spartans wanted to defend their case as a contender for the Big Ten title. Wednesday night against Penn State, they did it with defense. MSU smothered the Nittany Lions all night en route to a 76-58 victory in front of a jubilant Breslin Center crowd. "I think we got back to our old selves," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
On Sunday afternoon, MSU senior center Jason Andreas and his fellow captains, junior guard Chris Hill and junior swingman Alan Anderson, lifted the Coca-Cola Spartan Classic trophy. Minutes after the game, the Duke lineup appeared on the dry-erase board in the Spartans' locker room. "We're going to enjoy this championship for a couple hours," Andreas said after MSU's 89-81 win over DePaul.
"Drew, Drew!" While coming off a screen last week and waving his hand toward the point, freshman walk-on guard Tyrone Deacon tried to direct his teammate Drew Naymick to where he was supposed to be, while the Spartans went over a new offensive set.
After beating Penn 77-52 in the first round of the Coca-Cola Spartan Classic, junior guard Chris Hill knew MSU was on the right track toward achieving the goals MSU set for itself at the beginning of the season.
If a breakout season is what those outside East Lansing are expecting from junior guard Kelvin Torbert, they'll have to be satisfied with a breakout tournament instead. Torbert and No.
And so it begins. After being discussed, criticized and examined to near exhaustion, the murderous nonconference schedule facing the No.
Tom Izzo slammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand. The veins were clearly visible in his forehead and neck as he screamed across the court to any Spartan who would listen. It was a reoccurring scene Friday night in the Spartans' sloppy, 64-52 victory over Bucknell at Breslin Center. Rebounding, a staple in MSU's program during Izzo's tenure, evaporated against the Bison (0-1). The Spartans (1-0) weren't crashing the boards, and when the final buzzer sounded, MSU was slimly the victor in the rebounding category, 42-39. The poor display and representation of Spartan basketball caused Izzo to call this squad the softest team he's had in his nine-year reign as head coach. "This team needs a toughness transfusion," Izzo said.
It'll be the question of the season for the Spartans.Well, maybe second to "Can they win a national championship?"Will the point-guard-by-committee approach suffice for the men's basketball team's postseason powerhouse dreams?Juniors Alan Anderson and Chris Hill, senior Rashi Johnson and freshman Brandon Cotton are members of the quarterback committee."We really have three or four guys that can run the point," sophomore center Paul Davis said.
As the MSU basketball team embarks on its self-proclaimed "Magical Journey," three high school seniors took the first step in theirs.Wyoming Park point guard Drew Neitzel and forwards Marquise Gray of Flint Beecher and Goran Suton of Lansing Everett kept their promises to MSU head coach Tom Izzo by signing national letters of intent Wednesday to play for the Spartans next season.Wednesday was the first time Izzo could speak about his incoming class, which included two players - Neitzel and Gray - who have been verbal commits to the Spartans since their sophomore years.With so many high school players entering the NBA and the recent rash of decommittments in college basketball, recruiting has become a jungle, Izzo said.
Following an improved performance in the NCAA Tournament last season and a solid offseason, sophomore guard Maurice Ager was expected to factor heavily into the Spartans' rotation of players this season. Now, they'd be happy if he could walk. Since scoring 34 points in MSU's Green and White game on Oct.