A mid-season turnaround could start tonight as the women’s basketball team travels to Evanston, Ill., to face Big Ten doormat Northwestern at 8:00 p.m.Although the Spartans (8-15 overall, 2-10 Big Ten) have lost their last nine games, their play in the two most recent games was dramatically improved, and head coach Joanne P.
There’s an old saying that there’s no “I” in “team,” but that still didn’t diminish the accomplishments of two MSU wrestlers last weekend during two tough losses.The first big performance came in a 32-3 loss to top-ranked Minnesota on Friday, as senior Pat McNamara defeated third-ranked Brett Lawrence 6-0 in the 133 pound weight class.The victory pushed McNamara from sixth to fourth in the www.intermatwrestle.com rankings at 133 pounds.Sophomore Karl Nadolsky followed that up with a 5-3 upset over fifth-ranked Mike Zadick of Iowa at 149 pounds during the third-ranked Hawkeyes’ 31-9 win over the Spartans on Sunday.Friday’s match against Lawrence was a homecoming for McNamara, who is a native of Jordan, Minn.“It’s nice to go home and win in front of your family and friends - I enjoyed that part of the weekend,” he said.
Record-breaking MSU goaltender Ryan Miller will participate in a chat on ESPN.com today at 2 p.m. Fans can ask the sophomore questions by clicking on the “chat” link at the top of the ESPN.com main page or a link on the front page of msuspartans.com. Miller broke the 70-year-old NCAA record for career shutouts with his 17th against Alaska-Fairbanks last Saturday.
As a shooter, when your shot doesn’t fall, life can be tough. And senior forward Mike Chappell knows that feeling well.When Chappell transferred to MSU after his sophomore year at Duke in 1998, Spartan fans and coaches thought he’d become the three-point specialist the team lacked, but that never materialized.“It’s been a struggle for him.
Ask senior guard Christie Pung if Big Ten women’s basketball games are physical, and she might mention the black eye she had two weeks ago. Or the one she had before that.
The MSU football team beefed up its 2001 recruiting class, literally and figuratively, with the signing of defensive end Kevin Vickerson on Monday.
If a college basketball player’s toughness is based on the battles one has experienced, then David Thomas is MSU’s “General Patton.” Thomas, 24 and in his fifth season, said he is thankful for getting more opportunities to play this season after suffering knee and foot injuries in two of his first three playing seasons.
Maybe nice guys do finish first.The top-ranked Spartans, the least-penalized team in the CCHA, have a five-point lead in the league and their tendency toward good behavior might have something to do with it.The Spartans have tallied nine goals in their last three games - all officiated by CCHA referee Duke Shegos - while only being whistled for six penalties.“The refs have been letting a lot of stuff go, but I think we’ve been playing pretty disciplined as a team,” junior defenseman Andrew Hutchinson said.“We’ve had low penalties the whole year and we’ve just been fortunate that we haven’t taken any these past few games.”MSU averages 15.35 penalty minutes per league game, almost a full minute less than second-place Northern Michigan.The Spartans actually started their current three-game stretch of sainthood - Feb.
Over the last three games, MSU has given up 108 points on three-pointers compared to 18 points off its own three-pointers.“There’s definitely a deficiency between what teams are scoring against us and what we’re scoring against them,” said MSU head coach Tom Izzo of the No.
Minneapolis, Minn. - The Spartans made it clear they came to play in Minneapolis from the opening tip with an alley-oop dunk by junior guard Jason Richardson.“It was just a great chance for us to get going,” he said.
I had never been to an MSU hockey game at Munn Ice Arena before Saturday night.Boy, did I ever pick a night to finally go.My family has had season tickets for a while, but I was never interested.I don’t know why I suddenly was on Saturday.
It was almost magical, the way senior guard Christie Pung’s layup floated into the basket to tie up the MSU women’s basketball team’s game against Indiana on Sunday.The clock read 18.3 seconds, the scoreboard was lit with matching 50s and the referee blew his whistle.
Jeremy Jackson, who has played in only one game since Jan. 19, was dismissed from the top-ranked Spartan hockey team Thursday.The freshman center from Chilliwack, British Columbia was fourth on the team with 19 points - seven goals and 12 assists - this season, but hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with MSU head coach Ron Mason.Mason said Jackson was dismissed for “accountability issues in the classroom and with the team.“It’s really too bad,” Mason said.
MINNEAPOLIS - For most of Saturday night’s game against MSU, Williams Arena scorekeepers could only count in threes.Five of Minnesota’s seven scholarship players combined for 16 three-pointers in a display of marksmanship that caused serious breakdowns in the Spartans’ defensive scheme.
Munn Ice Arena had a record-breaking aura this weekend, but even more importantly, the Spartans earned a key sweep in their last home series of the season.No.
“Feed me,” cried the rapidly growing Venus flytrap, Audrey Jr., to nerdy plant shop assistant Seymour - played by Rick Moranis - when in need of nourishment in the cult classic film “Little Shop of Horrors.”The large self-proclaimed “mean green mother from outer space” was hungry for human flesh, and it didn’t hesitate to be vocal about it either.That’s the mindset Andre Hutson should take in the remaining six games of the Big Ten regular season and both the conference and NCAA tournaments.Shooting 68.5 percent (39-of-54) during the past seven games and leading both the conference and team in field-goal percentage, the 6-foot-8 senior forward needs to be “fed” the ball more by teammates.Hutson looked impressive early in MSU’s 77-66 loss to Illinois on Tuesday, scoring six of MSU’s first seven points.
It’s back to the road for the MSU men’s basketball team.The No. 4 Spartans (18-3 overall, 7-3 Big Ten) look to cure their road woes Saturday at Minnesota (16-7, 4-6).“There’s so many things that become factors,” senior forward Andre Hutson said of playing on the road.
MSU has more than just ending a seven-game slide on its mind. These women are hungry for redemption.“It’s a pride thing,” head coach Joanne P.
After months of in-home visits and constant wooing of potential high school football recruits, MSU head coach Bobby Williams announced from inside the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center the names of 21 recruits who signed a National Letter of Intent with the Spartans. “It really wasn’t an easy decision,” said Gordon Niebylski, a recruit from Birmingham Brother Rice High School in Farmington, Mich.
A long bus trip to Minnesota and Iowa to face the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation may not be the most desirable route to redemption, but that’s exactly the challenge the MSU wrestling team will face this weekend.The No.12 Spartans are coming off losses to Ohio State and Purdue last weekend.