Since Brandon Wood first stepped on campus in 2007, he’s been looking forward to his impending Senior Day. Ignore the fact he was stepping onto the campus of Southern Illinois some 500 miles away. And forget that he went to three different schools before finally landing in East Lansing.
All season long, each match the MSU wrestlers compete in has led up to the final weekend of the season: the Big Ten championships. This year, the Spartans will be sending six wrestlers to West Lafayette, Ind., to compete in the tournament with varying levels of experience.
The MSU gymnastics team is riding high going into its senior night faceoff with Illinois-Chicago, having won the last two meets and the last four at home. MSU will look to carry that momentum into Friday night’s meet at Jenison Field House as the team’s four seniors depart.
Hitting the road for the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, the MSU women’s basketball team (19-10 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) is out to do one thing: make magic. The Spartans will open the tournament against No. 12-seed Indiana (6-23, 1-15) on Thursday (approximately 8:25 p.m., Big Ten Network), and senior forward Lykendra Johnson said her team is confident after winning seven of the past eight games.
At long last, a much-needed break for the No. 15 MSU hockey team. Following a weekend split on the road at Notre Dame, the Spartans (19-13-4 overall, 14-11-3-2 CCHA) have a bye week to catch their breath before meeting Miami (Ohio) in a best-of-three series in the quarterfinal round of the CCHA Tournament.
It might be early in the season, but Justin Scanlon still hasn’t forgotten the way the last one ended. The senior shortstop and captain of the MSU baseball team walked off the field at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio, at the end of May 2011 with his head down and his dreams dashed, as Illinois beat the Spartans in the Big Ten Tournament championship game by a final score of 9-1.
After winning seven out of their nine games this season, the women’s tennis team heads to Orlando, Fla., this week for the season’s first away competition.
Bloomington, Ind. — Every last player on the No. 5 MSU men’s basketball team’s roster knew what to expect Tuesday night against No. 18 Indiana.
Bloomington, Ind. — On Dec. 28, 2011, the Indiana men’s basketball team came to Breslin Center and lost a back-and-forth game to MSU, 80-65.
On the surface, senior wrestlers Curran Jacobs and Anthony Jones Jr. couldn’t be more different. As expressive as they come, Jacobs speaks with confidence and never shies away from the spotlight. When he came to MSU five years ago, he didn’t have a flashy wrestling résumé, but that didn’t stop him from working his way up to the No. 18 ranked wrestler in the nation at 174 pounds.
When Suzy Merchant was asked last week if it was important to secure a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, she paused. The question would have been laughable a month earlier when the MSU women’s basketball team (19-10 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) had lost four straight games for the first time in four years and was fighting itself more than its opponents.
Hoping to lock up an outright Big Ten Championship, the No. 6 MSU men’s basketball team trails No.
Although the No. 5 MSU men’s basketball team could celebrate its third Big Ten title in four years, it can clinch the championship outright Tuesday in Bloomington, Ind. The Spartans (24-5 overall, 13-3 Big Ten) were guaranteed at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship after Purdue and No. 14 Wisconsin beat No. 13 Michigan and No. 10 Ohio State, respectively. But if they want to be the lone champions, they have work left to do, and it can accomplish that goal at No. 18 Indiana (22-7, 9-7).
As head coach Suzy Merchant walked to the podium for her weekly press conference on Monday, it was with a big smile that hasn’t always been there each week. The MSU women’s basketball team (19-10 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) finished the regular season with a 76-57 victory over Northwestern yesterday — the Spartans’ seventh win in the past eight games — and has overcome an earlier four-game losing streak to finish in a four-way tie for second-place in the Big Ten.
With two games to play and a possible outright Big Ten championship on the line, the No. 5 MSU men’s basketball team isn’t thinking about much past Tuesday’s matchup with No. 18 Indiana.
MSU baseball head coach Jake Boss isn’t upset with his team’s 3-1 weekend at the First Pitch Invitational in Greenville, S.C.
One month ago today, not many people could have seen this day coming. It was Jan. 26, and the MSU women’s basketball team (19-10 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) suffered a disheartening loss to Illinois — winless in conference play before the day — that extended MSU’s losing streak to four games and made dreams of finishing near the top of the conference seem like just that — dreams. Later that night, senior guard Porschè Poole and freshman guard Kiana Johnson called out their teammates for being selfish, and Poole made sure to meet with head coach Suzy Merchant to find answers. “I definitely think it was a turning point,” Merchant said.
Down on the bench at Munn Ice Arena, Tom Anastos moves from side to side, barking out orders and stressing each detail in an effort to reinvigorate the MSU hockey program. Making a return to his alma mater where he once played and was an assistant coach under Ron Mason, the challenges are many for Anastos in restoring the shine to one of college hockey’s marquee programs.
When senior forward Draymond Green and the rest of the seniors on the MSU men’s basketball team take the floor at Breslin Center for the last time Sunday against No. 8 Ohio State, the crowd will be missing some of their most die-hard fans.
Less than 24 hours after MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo said a Big Ten championship this season would be the “most earned” of his career, the No. 6 Spartans clinched at least a share of the title without even playing a game.