As of Monday, the Spartans are shooting 62.1 percent on free throws — the worst free throw shooting percentage in the Big Ten since the 2004-2005 season.
Behind a first half barrage of threes, the Spartans cruised to a critical 68-44 win. Freshman guard Lourawls Nairn started in place of senior guard Travis Trice, and for at least first five minutes, it took the Spartans some time to really get going. That changed though at the 13:18 mark, Trice connected on a three that ignited an offensive explosion.
Freshman guard Lourawls Nairn got the start over senior guard Travis Trice Tuesday night against Northwestern.
Before addressing the Big Ten matchup against Northwestern on Monday, men's basketball head coach Tom Izzo spent extended time talking about MSU's free throw troubles and questioning the mental toughness of his team. This was before revealing that freshman guard Javon Bess may miss the rest of the season with a setback with his ankle recovery.
There will be no love lost Friday, February 13 when the MSU women’s gymnastics team faces off against school rival University of Michigan in their alumni meet, held at the Jenison Field House, East Lansing.
Game after game, the tune remains the same in the MSU locker room. Despite continually finding ways to lose games, the Spartans maintain that their confidence is high. Most recently, junior guard Bryn Forbes echoed the mantra. “I think we’re still confident, it just makes you mad to see the way it turned out, especially for guys that do this everyday and make free throws everyday and make shots everyday,” Forbes said of the free throw debacle that unraveled on Saturday.
Michigan State wrestling fans had little to cheer about Sunday, as the team fell 33-6 in a route against 10th-ranked Nebraska. The loss marked the third straight for the Spartans, as they are now 0-7 in Big Ten play, and 4-10 overall. Conference play in the Big Ten this season has been fierce, with 11 out of 14 teams ranked in the top 25 for dual meets, including Iowa at #1 and Minnesota at #2 as of Sunday.
Both the women's and men's swimming and diving team were in action over the weekend, and both lost to rival Michigan. The men’s swimming and diving team took a tough 178-106 loss Friday in the season finale. The loss was difficult in more ways than one, because it was also the last time seniors Kyle Workman and David Zoltowski would ever be in McCaffree Pool. With the loss the Spartan men finish the season with an 0-4 Big Ten conference record and a 4-6 record for the season overall.
With 17 seconds left, junior guard Denzel Valentine missed a potential game-tying shot from no more than five feet away from the rim.
It's been a difficult season for sophomore guard Alvin Ellis II. After being set back by a sprained ankle in mid-November, he's struggled to find his place in the rotation.
MSU Softball finished opening weekend with a 4-1 record, and a four-game winning streak. They traveled to DeLand, Florida to participate in the Westin Lake Mary Leadoff Classic at Stetson to play Akron, Rhode Island, Morehead State and Stetson.
The Spartans saw a major contribution from a player outside of Aerial Powers and Tori Jankoska, two of the top five leading scorers in the Big Ten. Lexi Gussert, who got the start in replacement of Anna Morrissey on Sunday against Minnesota, recorded a career-high 20-points, 16 of which came in the first half. The freshman was responsible for the first 13-points of the afternoon for MSU (11-13, 3-10 Big Ten) before Kennedy Johnson's jumper botched the streak at the 12-minute mark. Gussert's electrifying performance was good enough for the Spartans to go up as high as 10 midway through the first half, but a resurgent effort by the Golden Gophers extends MSU's losing streak on the road to six straight games, falling short at Williams Arena, 86-79. Powers, the redshirt sophomore from Detroit, fell short of reaching her 20th straight double-double game, recording a team-high 31-points who also grabbing nine rebounds in the process. Jankoska followed suit with 21-points and eight rebounds.
For most, the Cold War refers to the post-World War II hostility between world powers. But for MSU and U-M hockey fans, it means game time.
Outdoor hockey games always come with unknown variables and on Saturday night, U-M (16-8, 8-2 Big Ten) handled the elements much better than MSU (10-12-2, 4-4-2-2 Big Ten). The Wolverines scored just 1:43 into the game and never looked back on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Spartans at Soldier Field in Chicago.
MSU hockey (10-12-2, 4-4-2-2 Big Ten) had its three-game winning streak snapped Saturday night losing 4-1 to U-M (16-8, 8-2 Big Ten) in the Hockey City Classic.
Free throw shooting has perhaps been MSU's greatest weakness this season. On Saturday, that weakness was compounded to absurd heights. The Spartans missed eight free throws in the first half against Illinois Saturday at Breslin Center, and three in the final four minutes of the game.
At halftime, Illinois leads MSU, 28-27. Both teams entered the game missing key pieces, with Illinois down redshirt senior guard Rayvonte Rice and MSU down freshman forward Javon Bess. Junior guard Bryn Forbes was called for a reach-in foul at the 18:19 mark, and after a good week of practice, sophomore guard Alvin Ellis checked in for him.
Barry Greer has gone to every men's basketball home game for more than 20 years. His task? Keeping the Spartan Brass on beat.
An instate rivalry that has been historically commanded by MSU saw a different chance in scenery on Thursday night when a prolonged streak was shattered. Michigan, who haven't swept the Spartans in the regular-season since the 1999-00 season, squandered the historic run thanks in part to four of their starters finishing in the double-digit mark in scoring, silencing MSU on the road, 72-59. Despite being loaded with two of the top five leading scorers in the Big Ten in Aerial Powers (No. 2) and Tori Jankoska (No. 5), the duo was held to a combined 31-points, 25 of those recorded by Powers. Jankoska, who is the reigning Big Ten player of the week after scoring a career-high 28-points last week against Indiana, shot a mere 2-of-8 from the floor, failing to sink her first field-goal until the 10-minute mark in the second half. Coming into their 11th conference game of the season, Michigan's last win outside of Ann Arbor was back in January, 17 against Northwestern. On Thursday, a 20-2 run in the first half was enough to hold MSU's comeback late in the second, led by Powers. The Detroit native, who played the entirely of the game due to a lack of numbers on the bench for head coach Suzy Merchant, was able to keep the motor running, cutting the deficit to as low as nine with more than four minutes remaining. Anna Morrissey, the 5-foot-10 senior guard, followed suit by pulling up for a wide opened three-pointer to decrease the Wolverines' lead to six two minutes later, her only bucket of the evening. Powers also led the Spartans in rebounds (15) and finishing second behind Jankoska in assists (four). Katelynn Flaherty and Cyesha Goree were the leading scorers for the Wolverines, finishing with 19 and 17-points each. Goree also led the maize-and-blue with 10-rebounds. MSU's Becca Mills contributed 10-points, seven of which came in the first half. The frustrating loss at the Breslin Center for the Spartans ends their two-game home win streak, which began with a victory over Wisconsin on the 25th of January. They'll have a couple days off before hitting the road to face Minnesota, who have lost just twice this season in front of the home crowd.
At 6-3 in Big Ten play, the men's basketball team is in the midst of a crucial stretch with the Big Ten Tournament just a month away.