Monday, December 29, 2025

Take a peek behind the curtain and test drive the NEW StateNews.com today!

Sports | Football 1000

ICE HOCKEY

Ice hockey completes weekend sweep over AIC

Mackenzie MacEachern tallied two goals as the MSU hockey team finished the weekend sweep of American International with a 4-0 win Sunday afternoon at Munn Ice Arena. Freshman forward Joe Cox netted his second career goal, and senior forward Greg Wolfe scored his team leading fifth in the Spartans (3-3-0 overall) third win in a row. “A more complete game tonight certainly makes us feel a little better,” head coach Tom Anastos said.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Women's basketball leads GVSU, 43-26

After one half of play at Breslin Center, the No. 18 women’s basketball team leads Grand Valley State, 43-26. GVSU kept the game within a couple of points for much of the half, but the Spartans started to take control of the game nearing halftime. MSU shot the ball well from behind the arc, going 5-for-10 on 3-pointers. MSU was led by senior forward Annalise Pickrel’s eight points, six rebounds and two assists.

FOOTBALL

A few seconds was difference in win

The difference between Connor Cook and Devin Gardner is a few seconds. Count slowly or it’ll pass you by. It’s the blink of an eye, a flash. Nothing more and nothing less than a brief moment in time.

FOOTBALL

Too Easy

It was dirty. It was sloppy. And unlike the last time MSU and Michigan clashed in East Lansing, that only described the playing surface at Spartan Stadium. Between the lines, the on-field action was brutal and hard-hitting, similar in that regard to MSU’s dominant defensive performance of 2011 that was marred by some dirty play on both sides. The Spartans (8-1 overall, 5-0 Big Ten) outmatched the Wolverines physically, bullying their way to a 29-6 win – MSU’s fifth victory in the rivalry’s last six meetings.

FOOTBALL

Spartans lead rival U-M 13-6 at halftime

Each team settled for field goals on their opening drives before failing to capitalize on multiple opportunities to take over the game, resulting in a 13-6 lead for MSU against rival Michigan at halftime. Sophomore quarterback Connor Cook’s accuracy was shaky until the last drive, when he took the Spartans 75 yards in 10 plays, capped with an impressive 14-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Bennie Fowler in the back corner of the end zone.

ICE HOCKEY

Spartans fend off AIC's late comeback

While most of East Lansing is dressed up and asking for free candy, the MSU hockey team is focused on winning, and that’s what they did Friday night against American International. The Spartans (2-3-0 overall) beat the Yellow Jackets (1-2-0 overall, 1-0-0 Atlantic Hockey) 5-4 in the first game of a two game set.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Women's soccer sees season end on senior day

In the final game of the season, the MSU women’s soccer team was unable to upset No. 22 Penn State, as the Nittany Lions came away with the 3-0 victory on the back of Maya Hayes’ two goals. Penn State (13-5-1 overall, 7-4 Big Ten) derailed the Spartans (9-8-2 overall, 3-8 Big Ten) on senior day at DeMartin Stadium when they honored lone senior and MSU defender Kelsey Mullen. Mullen injured her knee in early October and missed four games prior to Friday, but head coach Tom Saxton was determined Mullen would play her final game in a Spartan game.

FOOTBALL

U-M fanbase refuses to move forward

Let’s begin with a stroll down memory lane. That’s not too much to ask for a university and fanbase obsessed with the past, right? In fact, many of you never left. I understand most of you have simply gone along with the elitist, holier-than-thou rhetoric you’ve heard from Michigan fans and supporters all your life. The sense of superiority and arrogance has been passed along for generations. For those of you that picked it up from a real alumnus instead of in the Wal-Mart clearance section, good for you! That’s a rare feat. Slide those blue-and-yellow tinted glasses off and take a look at the real world, where quarterbacks don’t wear No. 98 and people don’t act like they reinvented the wheel for playing night games. Like the females in Ann Arbor, the past isn’t as glamorous when you take a longer look.

FOOTBALL

School rivalry feels different to outsider

One of my earliest interactions with Michigan State started with a female Spartan screaming at me to suck a part of her body that she categorically cannot possess. This was during my sophomore year two years ago during the “touch” football game The Michigan Daily and The State News play every Friday before the real football players battle on Saturday. I grew up in California not knowing a thing about Michigan State or why there is such animosity (for MSU fans reading this, that means “bad blood” ) between these two schools. I’m not like a lot of my classmates, the ones that grew up with or knowing Spartan fans, or the ones who applied to both schools, just in case they don’t get into Michigan. Everything I know about Michigan State comes from personal experience — there were no preconceived ideas or stereotypes that come with growing up in this area.

BASKETBALL

Schilling makes his mark on men's basketball season exhibition, starting competition

Tuesday was a night of firsts for Gavin Schilling. In the MSU men’s basketball team’s season opening 101-52 exhibition win against Grand Valley on Tuesday night, the highly touted freshman forward made his first appearance in green and white. “I had the mindset coming in that I can’t be too nervous, and I expected good things,” Schilling said. “Nothing new, nothing surprising. I played good and brought a lot of good things to the team tonight.”