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Team

SPORTS

Cagers have chance to learn from recent loss

Dan Woike
February 8, 2001

Postgame interviews are always littered with clichés, ranging from “They were just the better team today” to “We left it all out on the floor.” Usually these shallow phrases give no real insight to the game or its outcome, but one phrase that fits the latest Spartan hoops defeat is “This is a good loss for us.” While no loss is ever “good” by strict definition, MSU’s 77-66 loss to Illinois on Tuesday could be very beneficial to the Spartans in the long run. First of all, every team needs to lose. There has not been a team to finish a season without a loss since Bobby Knight and the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers won the national title. Granted, the Spartans had already lost prior to Tuesday, but a loss at this point in the season can help a team focus for the long road to postseason immortality - a trip to the Final Four. Last season, MSU lost at Purdue.

SPORTS

Top wrestler sidelined by injury

Keith Dunlap
February 7, 2001

MSU wrestler Gray Maynard is expected to be out of action for at least a month after having knee surgery Monday.Maynard tore knee cartilage in his victory over Michigan’s Pat Owen on Jan.

SPORTS

MSU hockey no longer alone at top in some polls

James Jahnke
February 7, 2001

MSU’s hockey team held on to its No. 1 national ranking in this week’s USCHO.com poll, but it has to share the top spot in the USA Today rankings with Boston College.The Spartans (22-3-4 overall, 15-3-3 CCHA) split their weekend series with Northern Michigan, allowing BC (20-6-1) to tie.The Eagles and Spartans both have 258 points, but MSU has 10 first-place votes to BC’s eight.In the uscho.com poll, MSU garnered 28 of 40 first-place votes, with Boston College in second with nine votes.North Dakota (20-5-5) kept its three first-place votes from last week’s uscho.com poll and stayed in third place in both rankings.“If it were my choice, I wouldn’t even want to know the rankings during the season,” senior right wing John Nail said.

SPORTS

Mens hoops second team challenges starters

Eric Lacy
February 6, 2001

Most Spartan fans are only accustomed to seeing Matt Ishbia score in blowout wins against an opponent’s second or third string, but it’s no surprise to his teammates to see the 5-foot-10 inchpoint guard hold his own in practice.

SPORTS

Spartan defense topples Purdue

Eric Lacy
February 5, 2001

Al Anagonye, who had foul problems in games earlier this season, doesn’t pound the hardwood with his hands because he’s frustrated with officiating - he does it to invoke a strict Spartan defense. “That’s just something that’s been a tradition here at MSU,” the sophomore forward said of the gesture.

SPORTS

XFL is a nice side dish for a traditional football fan

I’m sitting in my buddy’s apartment puffin’ on a Camel wide light and drinking a 16-ounce Budweiser expecting to watch the beginning of what I think will be a farce of a football league - the XFL. I take a long pull from the ice-cold brew and toke from my smoke pondering if World Wrestling Federation guru Vince McMahon can actually make a football traditionalist like myself want to watch another XFL game. Several cigs and a few beers later, I have decided the XFL is freakin’ great. McMahon actually sensationalized the sport I love to the point where it is just simply hilarious enough to watch - much like the WWF. What could be more comical than listening to Minnesota Gov.

SPORTS

Womens hoops team trampled by Wisconsin

Krista Latham
February 5, 2001

MADISON, Wis. - Another Big Ten game meant another big-time loss for the MSU women’s basketball team as Wisconsin blew by the Spartans 69-49 at the Kohl Center on Sunday. The score doesn’t really let on to how rough the game was for MSU, which trailed by as much as 35 and had its third-lowest scoring half in school history, with a 12-point first-half effort. “They gave us enormous trouble in the first half,” head coach Joanne P.

SPORTS

W-hoops set for Iowa

Krista Latham
February 1, 2001

Five straight women’s basketball Big Ten losses are not something MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie takes lightly.After the embarrassing 97-49 beat-down at No.

SPORTS

Frosh excited about rivalry

Eric Mckinney
February 1, 2001

When Michigan and MSU play it’s about more than just wins and losses. It’s about pride - personal, state and school pride. It’s something you can’t understand until you experience it, and asking freshmen to step up to that challenge is asking a lot. But that’s exactly what MSU head coach Tom Izzo asked of his freshmen. In their first career game against arch-rival U-M on Tuesday, guard Marcus Taylor and center Zach Randolph remained in the starting lineup. Izzo said he wasn’t sure how the freshmen would react in the hostile environment of Crisler Arena. “When you have freshmen there’s a lot of ups and downs,” he said.

SPORTS

Icer fourth-line in juggling act

James Jahnke
February 1, 2001

MSU’s fourth line has an identity crisis.Injuries, lack of production and other circumstances have led to a seemingly unending revolving door at the end of the top-ranked Spartans’ bench this season.MSU head coach Ron Mason acknowledged the lack of a true fourth line, but said it’s not necessarily a detriment to the team.“I don’t know if we have what I would consider to be a fourth line,” Mason said.

SPORTS

Spartan teams reflect on loss

Karalee Miller
January 30, 2001

The plane crash that killed 10 people Saturday, including two Oklahoma State basketball players, has sent a wave of emotion throughout the area.“I think they said it right on TV, where when you do coach, all the players become sons for the period of time they are here,” MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo said.