During his team’s three-game losing streak, Tom Izzo was looking for some resiliency and a rallying cry from his players. The MSU men’s basketball head coach thinks he found it during Saturday’s 65-54 win against Penn State, and a key reason was junior guard Mike Kebler’s defensive performance on Penn State guard Talor Battle.
As quickly as Northwestern center Amy Jaeschke warmed up in the second half Sunday against the MSU women’s basketball team, she cooled down. Jaeschke reeled off Northwestern’s first 10 points of the second half, giving her 20 for the game, as Northwestern cut a 17-point deficit to seven.
Days before the MSU men’s basketball team’s game against Illinois on Feb. 6, head coach Tom Izzo fielded questions about what he would do at point guard with junior guard Kalin Lucas injured.
Love was not in the air for the MSU women’s basketball team’s Valentine Day’s matinee with Northwestern. With one, if not more, bodies flying around on any given play, the Spartans once again used their defense to transition into offense, knocking off the Wildcats 68-55 in front of 8,632 fans Sunday at Breslin Center.
Cetera Washington now is in her third season with the MSU women’s basketball team. The 6-foot junior forward from Kalamazoo, Mich., came to MSU from Loy Norrix High School, where she was named 2006 Associated Press Class A Player of the Year.
The MSU women’s basketball team showed it has many weapons Sunday, using a balanced offensive attack to beat Northwestern, 68-55, at Breslin Center. Every Spartan who played scored, led by three in double figures — senior center Allyssa DeHaan (12 points), sophomore guard Porschè Poole (12) and senior center Lauren Aitch (11).
It was a good weekend for the No. 13 MSU hockey team. And the Spartans didn’t even have any games on the schedule.
Junior guard Kalin Lucas scores 24 in MSU’s 65-54 win at Penn State. The win ends the Spartans’ three-game skid and gives them their 10th Big Ten win of the season.
Senior center Allyssa DeHaan tied the NCAA Division I career blocks record Thursday night when she swatted Michigan center Krista Phillips 13 seconds into the second half at Crisler Arena, tying the previous record of 480 held by Texas Christian’s Sandora Irvin (2001-05). Later Thursday night, St. Mary’s junior forward Louella Tomlinson, who came into her game with Gonzaga needing three blocks to break the record, tied and later broke the record with five rejections.
MSU junior guard Chris Allen is averaging career highs in points, rebounds, assists and steals — but Allen and his coaches agree those improvements stem from his growth on defense. His increased focus and intense film study means he’s now playing the best defense of his life, head coach Tom Izzo said.
For more than a week, the focus of the MSU men’s basketball program has been on junior guard Kalin Lucas. Saturday, the team’s attention will turn to Penn State’s junior guard and leading scorer Talor Battle, the Nittany Lions’ most dangerous player.
A trip to State College, Pa., might be just what the doctor ordered for the MSU men’s basketball team. No coach would play a road game in the Big Ten if he didn’t have to, but if there is a team you want to face on their home floor, it’s the Nittany Lions.
Injuries throughout her basketball career might have taken away some of Aisha Jefferson’s physical gifts, but they haven’t affected her heart.
It’s that time again! The prognosticators are here to make their weekly picks.
There’s nothing like a rivalry game to get a team going after a tough loss. Following Sunday’s disappointing loss at Iowa, the MSU women’s basketball team will be anxious to get back at it tonight when they head to Crisler Arena to play Michigan at 7 p.m. Four days after the team struggled defensively against the Hawkeyes, MSU goes into Ann Arbor against a team that will play a very similar style — drive to the basket and either put up a shot or kick out for a 3-point attempt.
Despite coming off its two highest-scoring performances of the season, the No. 22 MSU gymnastics team only is thinking about scoring higher as it prepares for this weekend’s meet at Illinois. The Spartans scored a 194.550 in a second-place finish at Western Michigan last weekend after pulling together a season-best 194.875 the previous weekend against Ohio State.
After competing strongly in a national tournament as a 12-year-old, Shanthi Teike knew gymnastics was the right path for her. What she might not have expected was finding a lot of success this early in her collegiate career. Teike, a freshman MSU gymnast, has been one of the Spartans’ most consistent performers this season, regularly finishing in the top five and proving to be a nice complement to the team’s juniors and seniors.
Funny, the effect ankle injuries have on star MSU point guards. Kalin Lucas’ performance on a bum ankle Tuesday night against Purdue brought back memories of Mateen Cleaves’ 2000 championship game effort.
The MSU men’s basketball team struggled defensively off ball screens and it cost them another game Tuesday, as the No. 10 Spartans lost to No. 6 Purdue, 76-64, at Breslin Center.
In a tough Big Ten wrestling schedule, nobody’s been more embattled than 174-pound sophomore Ian Hinton. Hinton has faced six straight ranked opponents in a stacked conference, holding up well despite the strength of the competition.