The men's basketball team played to their strengths on the road Thursday, and the results are evident in the final stat sheet.
MSU hockey (9-11-2, 3-3-2-2 Big Ten) will return to Joe Louis Arena on Friday for the first time since December 29th, 2014, when the Spartans lost to UM in the Great Lakes Invitational title game.
On Thursday, MSU Athletics announced a $3 million dollar donation given by Mark and Cindy Pentecost to upgrade men's basketball facilities, including the main offices and practice facilities. Mark Pentecost, a former high school teacher, is the CEO of skin care and nutrition direct sale company It Works!. The couple are members of the Athletic Director’s Campaign Leadership Council, a group of more than 30 people involved in the Empower Extraordinary campaign. “Growing up in the Lansing area, surrounded by generations of Spartans who bleed green, giving back to this storied basketball program came natural,” Mark Pentecost in a statement released by the university.
One MSU student is attempting to broaden MSU’s horizon when it comes to club sports.
The dark cloud hanging over the head of the MSU women's basketball team this season is clearly the amount of injuries that have taken a tole of the program. Dressing only eight players for Wednesday night's matchup against Indiana at the Breslin Center, a couple players were asked to go further than what they're bodies are used too. Having almost played the entire 40-minutes, Tori Jankoska and Aerial Powers found ways to carry the load in the points column as only five players scored at least one point for the Spartans. Jankoska, the sophomore guard from Freeland, Michigan, scored a career-high 28-points while also adding 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead MSU to a 72-57 victory, their third Big Ten conference win of the season. "Sometime she's taken on a tougher defensive assignment which has caused to not be as effective on offense," Merchant said.
The Spartans made several splashes on the recruiting trail in the last day or so. With National Signing Day fast approaching next Wednesday Feb.
This past fall brought a different experience for Chris Wesolowski. As a freshman, from strapping on the helmet and shoulder pads at Cardinal Mooney Catholic every Friday night under the lights, to standing on the medal bleachers at Spartan Stadium on the weekends brought a sense of frustration and curiosity. Faced with the reality that he was too small or not nice enough to play Division 1 football at MSU, Wesolowski wanted a way to continue playing the sport he loved without going through the roadblocks of what it takes to play in the Big Ten. So when the idea of joining a club team with other students who had the same passion for the sport as him came along, Wesolowski was excited. Excited in the fact that his career wasn't over last year. However, the university at the time didn't carry a club football program, giving Wesolowksi the vision of starting up a team next fall, paving the way of other students who are hoping to make one more tackle or one more touchdown. How did this dream come to a reality?
Now in his 40th year at Duke, men's basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski has a list of accomplishments to his name.
Hockey players are often thought to be some of the toughest athletes on the planet.
Consistency. Combine it with talent and great things can happen. But consistency has been one thing he women's basketball team (11-10) as lacked this season. “You see flashes (of how good they can be), and now they have to be consistent,” head coach Suzy Merchant said.
EAST LANSING - Team and individual achievements were made on Wednesday for the Spartans. Tori Jankoska, who came into her tenth Big Ten matchup of the season against Indiana, recorded a career-high 28-points en route to a 72-57 victory at the Breslin Center. The senior guard hit 56-percent of her shots from beyond the arc, finishing the game as one-of-two Spartans (11-10, 3-7 B1G) who found themselves with over 20-points scored. Aerial Powers, the Detroit product from Country Day, led the team in field-goal (22) and three-point attempts (10). Her aggressiveness on the offensive side of the floor matched Jankoska's point total with 28. Both players' shot making abilities helped garner MSU's largest conference victory this season.
Down by three-points with seven minutes into the first half following a jumper from the key by Indiana Hoosiers guard Karlee McBride, the shots were immediately converting for the Spartans. MSU went on a 12-0 run to record their second largest lead of the evening before going into halftime with a 39-25 lead at the Breslin Center. Tori Jankoska, the senior guard, was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to lead the Spartans with 19-points. She was responsible for the final four-points of the half after being fouled after converting a three-pointer. Aerial Powers, the Detroit product, has added 16-points and Becca Mills has recorded four-points, the only three players who have garnered any points in the first 20-minutes. The Spartans are currently shooting 37 percent from the floor (13-of-35), compared to Indiana, who has converted just 32 percent of their shots (9-of-28). Six players have garnered stats in the points column for the Hoosiers, with Karlee McBride leading the team with six-points.
East Lansing, Michigan, known as the home of the Michigan State Spartans, can now be known as one of the elite football hotspots in the country. In a recent ranking list from wallethub.com, a website focused on personal financial resources, East Lansing ranked in as the second-best city in the country for football fans.
After a season sweep at the hands of Maryland, MSU will travel to Rutgers, the Big Ten’s other newcomer, once again looking to get back on track. The game was originally scheduled for 9 p.m.
Kathie Klages, women's gymnastics head coach, is in her 25th season and has served as a coach both on and off the mat for her gymnasts.
This past week electrical engineering senior and swim team captain David Zoltowski was awarded the prominent Churchill Scholarship.
The women’s tennis team is coming off an up and down two-day stretch of play in California against No.
Perhaps the season has not gone quite the way fans had hoped, and after 20 games, head coach Tom Izzo is disappointed as well. He is, however, trying to keep things in perspective. “(I) keep reminding myself we’re 13-7 not 7-13,” Izzo said.
By Mayara Sanches msanches@statenews.com Not many freshman recruited by a Big Ten school get to play much, or even at all, during their freshman year. They are put on the bench, where they sit and watch the great players do their best, hoping to learn from them.
Foul trouble crippled the men's basketball team early against No. 16 Maryland on Saturday. Senior forward Branden Dawson, sophomore forward Gavin Schilling, junior forward Branden Dawson and junior guard Denzel Valentine each picked up two in the first half, and head coach Tom Izzo was forced to turn to his bench sooner than he would have preferred. It wasn't the first time Valentine got himself into early foul trouble this season.