Hockey, like many sports, is a game that can be considered a “game of inches.” As MSU hockey (5-13-3 overall, 4-10-1-0 CCHA) senior forward Chris Forfar put it, an inch in one direction can make the game work in your favor, but it could just as easily work that way for the other team.
In the first half of the series between the two, Notre Dame beat MSU, 1-0. A series of penalties in the first period resulted in MSU sophomore forward Brent Darnell being sent off the ice for the game with a 5-game major and a game misconduct.
On Sunday the MSU women’s basketball team will hit the road for the first time in the young Big Ten season to take on a high-scoring Illinois squad. In a strength versus strength matchup, the defensive-minded Spartans (13-2 Big Ten, 1-1 Overall), who allow 45.6 points per game, will be tested by the Illini offense that averages 72.7 points per contest led star forward Karisma Penn. Four Illinois (9-6, 2-1) starters average 13 points or more, headlined by Penn’s 20-points and 10-plus rebounds per contest.
The MSU gymnastics team gets their season underway at 4 p.m. Saturday when they take on Western Michigan at Jenison Field House.
As the losses continue to pile up for the MSU hockey team, the Spartans are looking at this weekend’s home series against one of the country’s top teams as an opportunity to turn the season around.
The No. 22 MSU men’s basketball team (12-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) travels to Iowa City, Iowa and Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes (11-4, 0-2). To follow the game, share your thoughts and ask questions to The State News’ men’s basketball reporter, Josh Mansour, join the live chat.
It’s been nearly 10 months since Denzel Valentine and Anthony Clemmons set foot on a basketball court as teammates. A lifetime of preparation, early-morning workouts and practices that sometimes roared into the darkness of a winter evening led to the Lansing Sexton High seniors capturing their second consecutive MHSAA Class B state championship. In moments of elation about what the future held, it became difficult not to think back to all they’ve been through together.
Despite what the record might say, Chris Forfar said the MSU hockey team is better than the numbers show. About halfway through the 2012-13 season, there might not be much interpretation to take out of the team’s 5-12-3 overall record, with a showing of 4-9-1-0 in the CCHA.
As the Big Ten season moves along, the importance of each game on the schedule is not to be understated by teams in the conference. After watching No. 5 Indiana survive a New Year’s Eve scare against Iowa and Purdue upset then-No. 11 Illinois on Jan. 2, the notion of any team competing on any given day is less cliché and more reality this season for MSU head coach Tom Izzo.
The MSU wrestling team has another busy weekend on the road as they begin the toughest part of their schedule. The Spartans (4-3, 0-2 Big Ten) travel to Clarion, Pa., to take on Clarion and North Carolina beginning at noon Saturday before heading to State College, Pa., for a tilt against No. 1, and two-time defending national champion, Penn State at 2 p.m. Sunday.
When Tom Izzo tried to recall the Big Ten’s winningest coaches, his memory stopped after two — Gene Keady and Bob Knight. The legendary former Purdue and Indiana basketball head coaches, respectively, have led the Big Ten in wins for the better part of a decade, but it wasn’t until moments before the MSU men’s basketball team took on Purdue on Saturday that Izzo learned about the next man in line.
Following another weekend and another heavy loss for the MSU hockey team, Tom Anastos said they had to do some major soul-searching — and for the head coach that meant watching the game “over and over and over again.”
With the start of the 2013 MSU gymnastics season just days away, excitement is buzzing throughout the young and talented Spartan team. The excitement for this season is increased because of the success of the gold-medal-winning USA gymnastics team in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The MSU swimming and diving team returns to action this weekend after a training trip to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in December.
Men’s tennis and women’s gymnastics both get their spring seasons underway this weekend with competition at home.
It’s been established Gary Harris sprained his left shoulder in a November game against Boise State. However, head coach Tom Izzo revealed at his press conference Monday the freshman guard has been dealing with an additional shoulder injury.
With Le’Veon Bell, William Gholston and Dion Sims all headed to the NFL Draft, the MSU football team will be looking for a few fresh faces to step in and fill the void. Here are some of the players contending for a spot near the top of the depth chart.
Following the Spartans’ 66-51 victory in the Big Ten season-opener against Minnesota last Thursday, some players and members of the media questioned whether the MSU women’s hoops team deserved to be ranked. It was a legitimate discussion at the time.
When Dan Wirnsberger graduated from MSU in 1995, he was one of the most decorated and celebrated Spartan wrestlers in the program’s history, and helped turn a struggling program into a national power. Now, as the head coach at Bucknell, Wirnsberger returned to MSU to take on his former coach and alma mater on Sunday afternoon.
Their paths couldn’t have been more different. The no-name, two-star high school running back with less than a handful of scholarship offers. The two-sport athlete determined to play both football and basketball at the college level. And the high profile, five-star, All-American recruit with offers from seemingly every big-name program in the country.