Champaign, Ill. - The Spartans were out of their league Tuesday night, suffering a 70-40 Big Ten shellacking at the hands of Illinois at Assembly Hall. The Spartans' 40-point effort was the lowest ever under head coach Tom Izzo, and the worst loss since the coach's rookie year, when the team lost by 36 to Iowa in 1996.
Champaign, Ill. - The stage was set for a Hollywood comeback story.But judging from the sour scowl on sophomore forward Alan Anderson's face following Tuesday's 70-40 loss to No.
This season, the MSU men's basketball team is in the middle of a personality crisis: Goliath at home and David on the road. The Spartans (14-9 overall, 6-5 Big Ten) are relatively dominant at Breslin Center, boasting a 10-1 record this season - 5-0 in the Big Ten.
Plain and simple, the Big Ten picture is cloudy. It wasn't particularly sunny in the preseason, but three teams were supposed to vie for the conference crown: MSU, Indiana and Illinois. With three weeks left in the season, not one of those teams are leading the Big Ten.
If basketball had three stars of the game like hockey, Kelvin Torbert would have been the undisputed first star Saturday.The sophomore guard scored a career-high 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting in MSU's 64-51 win over Northwestern.
It was low-scoring, ugly and slow, but that's the way the MSU men's basketball team liked it Saturday, knocking off visiting Northwestern 61-54.The Spartans (14-9 overall, 6-5 Big Ten) again defended Breslin Center, improving to 5-0 at home in conference play.
Staggering into the Big Ten season with back-to-back losses has forced the Spartans to dance on the NCAA Tournament bubble much of the season. And in just over a month - on March 16, to be exact - the field of 65 will be released.
In MSU's 64-53 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday, the Badger defense had an answer for every Spartan offensive option - except freshman forward Erazem Lorbek.
Madison, Wis. - A feisty Wisconsin team proved to be too much for the Spartans on Tuesday night. MSU fell to the Badgers 64-53, ending the Spartans' three-game winning streak at the Kohl Center in front of 17,142 fans - many arriving late because of a snowstorm. "We played good enough to bounce back but in critical times, we kind of ran out of gas," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said.
The MSU men's basketball team had only one game since last week's polls came out, but the Spartans didn't get any respect after a 67-62 overtime victory against Indiana on Saturday. Voters in The Associated Press Top 25 poll obviously weren't impressed with the Spartans' (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) road win, nor their three-game winning streak as MSU actually lost 20 votes in the poll. The Spartans received only 11 votes, just one week after picking up 31.
If it doesn't concern tonight's game at Wisconsin, the MSU men's basketball team is lending only a deaf ear and a blind eye.The Spartans (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) have won three straight games, putting them two games out of the conference lead and in a fifth-place tie with Minnesota.But MSU head coach Tom Izzo said forecasting later games is useless in light of the Spartans' lackluster Big Ten start."If we get this one, I guess we'd be somewhat back in the race," Izzo said.
Bloomington, Ind. - If MSU's narrow victory over No. 16 Illinois last week moved the team off the respirator of Big Ten contention, Saturday's 67-62 dramatic overtime defeat of Indiana might have upgraded the team to stable condition. Saturday's win was the Spartans' (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) third consecutive conference victory and their first road win since beating Kentucky in mid-December.
Bloomington, Ind. - As usual, Alan Anderson wanted to be the Spartans' leader and help his team to victory. Saturday night, the sophomore forward did just that.
The MSU men's basketball team eeked out its first Big Ten road victory of the year Saturday night, defeating Indiana 67-62 in overtime. The victory was the Spartans' (13-8 overall, 5-4 Big Ten) third straight conference win and the fourth in five games.
The game is going down to the wire, the clock is ticking down like a sluggish metronome and only a 3-pointer can tie the game. Who gets the ball? If the MSU men's basketball team is the squad in need of a trey, then the ball is likely to end up in the hands of sophomore guard Chris Hill, MSU's deadliest and most consistent 3-point threat. Hill has made his career as a Spartan by banking on his long range shot.
The MSU men's basketball team's quest for its first conference road win continues Saturday when it ventures to Indiana to take on the struggling Hoosiers. The Spartans have failed in four previous tasks to bring home a conference road win.
Adam Ballinger dug himself a mountain-sized crevasse to climb out of.But in wins against then-No.
In the thick of the Big Ten season, the MSU men's basketball team finds itself living an anomaly - downtime during conference play. The Spartans (12-8 overall, 4-4 Big Ten) knocked off two ranked opponents (now-unranked Indiana and No.
For the second time in as many games, the MSU men's basketball team had to rely on a 3-pointer to seal a crucial conference victory.This time, the shot was a last-second heave from sophomore forward Alan Anderson to close the first half.
The Spartans and Fighting Illini had a war that included everything except swords and shining armor Sunday afternoon. And after losing the first-half battle and trailing 40-34, the MSU men's basketball team used a late surge and a controversial shot by sophomore forward Alan Anderson as a spark plug for the second half. The result: a heart-pounding and exhilarating 68-65 Spartan win in front of a packed Breslin Center.