After reports of juniors Dion Sims and Le’Veon Bell foregoing their senior seasons to enter the NFL Draft made headlines the past two days, the duo released statements along with head coach Mark Dantonio Thursday evening.
Following the team’s Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl victory over TCU on Saturday, it was expected that juniors running back Le’Veon Bell, defensive end William Gholston and tight end Dion Sims might take a look at joining the professional ranks. And according to reports, the NFL wheels are in motion. Multiple outlets including MLive are reporting the trio have submitted paperwork to the NFL College Advisory Board, requesting an evaluation of their draft stock.
After finishing up the non-conference schedule against Texas nine days ago, Tom Izzo has been preparing the No.
When asked what he’s taking away from the 2012 Great Lakes Invitational, Tom Anastos paused and answered with one word: heartburn. After a shootout loss to Western Michigan on Saturday and a 5-2 loss to rival Michigan on Sunday, the hearts of all MSU hockey (5-11-3 overall, 4-8-1-0 CCHA) players are likely burning along with their head coach.
The consolation game of the Great Lakes Invitational, or GLI, featured rivals MSU and U-M in a heated battle in which U-M prevailed, 5-2. The match up at Joe Louis Arena got off to a quick start, with three goals in the first period — courtesy of U-M’s Lee Moffie and MSU sophomore forwards Tanner Sorenson and Matt Berry. The game slowed down in the second period, with both teams unable to find the back of the net. The third period proved to be a productive one for U-M, netting three goals. An odd-man rush by the Wolverines early in the third tied the game up, and U-M pulled ahead minutes later with a power play goal. With about ten minutes remaining, U-M’s Di Guiseppe netted a goal following a backhanded pass from Moffatt on one knee. After a game misconduct and a five-minute major by Wolverines’ Treais, U-M’s Hyman received a goal after being tripped when rushing an empty net. Western Michigan and Michigan Tech will face off for the GLI Championship at 7 p.m.
With the National Hockey League locked out from play, the Joe Louis Arena found it’s life again Saturday night with a history-making game at the The Great Lakes Invitational. The Great Lakes Invitational kicked off with the MSU and Western Michigan hockey programs, the Broncos besting the Spartans in a shootout.
Chandler, Ariz. — More than 250 Spartan fans packed into a pep rally waiting to be pumped up for the MSU football team’s Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl matchup with TCU on Saturday night only to fall silent when they got a speech about the departure of an MSU basketball player.
When communication junior Dustin Thaler went home for winter break, he never thought he would get to see his beloved Spartans live before next season at Spartan Stadium.
From his opening bucket where he drained a hook shot and pumped his fists as he ran back on defense, Derrick Nix was on his game.
The MSU women’s basketball team won’t be returning from Sin City empty-handed. The Spartans claimed the 2012 South Point Holiday Hoops Classic championship in Las Vegas Thursday evening after beating Texas Tech 50-48 in overtime. On Wednesday, the first day of the two-game tournament, MSU (11-1 overall) knocked off Oregon State, 49-35, with a dominating defensive effort. With six minutes left in the game, the Spartans held a 38-31 lead, before Texas Tech (8-2) came storming back and cut the MSU lead to one with less than two minutes to play. Sophomore guard Kiana Johnson, who made her first appearance for MSU this season on Sunday following a nine-game suspension to start the season, came up clutch for the Spartans in the tournament final.
Parker’s announcement means MSU’s 2013 recruiting class still is without any committed players, and it’s possible the Spartans might not bring in any new recruits next season for the first time in head coach Tom Izzo’s tenure. This shouldn’t be a cause for panic among MSU basketball fans.
Standing in front of his friends, family and a large television audience at Chicago Simeon High, the 6-foot-8 small forward Jabari Parker announced his intentions to attend Duke following a long recruiting process.
The MSU women’s basketball team didn’t need help from lady luck Wednesday night in Las Vegas in its first game of the 2012 South Point Holiday Hoops Classic, cruising to a 49-35 win over Oregon State. In Suzy Merchant’s 500th career game as a head coach, the Spartans (10-1 overall) never trailed Oregon State (6-5) at any point in the contest.
After taking the then-No. 5 MSU men’s basketball team into Bowling Green and losing more than 20 years ago, head coach Jud Heathcote vowed he would not return to Anderson Arena, now called the Stroh Center.
“It’s a big week,” Nix said. “We ain’t got no more cupcakes. Let the party start.”
Kiana Johnson had spent exactly three months dreaming of this day, but when she finally awoke, she almost hit the snooze button. “I woke up at like 7 (AM) and I was going to go back to sleep for 10 minutes, and I’m like ‘what am I doing?
The Spartans went 41.4 percent from the floor and 86.7 percent from the free throw line as they led 40-11 at the end of the first half, but the second half was a different story, as MSU was outscored by the Mastodons 25-24.
The MSU women’s basketball team (9-1) seemed right at home in their return to Jenison Field House, pummeling IPFW (3-7) 64-36 Sunday afternoon.
The game was played in Jenison Field House to commemorate the “Game of Change” nearly 50 years ago, when the stadium hosted an NCAA Tournament game between Loyola-Chicago and Mississippi State, in which Mississippi State had to sneak out of its state to play an integrated basketball game during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
It was a night of historic moments that certainly wasn’t lost on head coach Tom Izzo, who imparted the lessons taken away from the positives of such a cultural shift in American history.