Banner Year for the Spartans
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 11:05Tonight’s win over Purdue was just one of a number of high points for the Spartans this year. Despite a year which saw the Spartans lose twice at home, and get blown out in Detroit to North Carolina, this team fought through adversity and captured its first outright Big Ten Championship in nearly a decade; it was games like today’s that led this team to the top.
MSU Hangs on to Win Outright Championship
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 23:28
There are no guaranteed victories in college basketball, and the Spartans almost found that out the hard way tonight as they traveled to Bloomington, Indiana for their final road game of the 2008-2009 Big Ten Campaign. The Spartans had to overcome a second-half charge by an inspired Hoosier team before finally pulling away with the 64-59 victory.
The boys in green never trailed during the 40 minute battle, and at one point led by as many as 11 points. Indiana however, sparked by a technical foul on Coach Tom Izzo, held the Spartans to zero field goals for nearly 8 ½ minutes before Raymar Morgan ended the drought with a punishing dunk off of a Durell Summers 3-point miss.
Izzo picked up the technical during a timeout in which an official walked across the court and into the Michigan State huddle.
MSU Quick Hits- March 3, 2009
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 18:34BASKETBALL
Tonight becomes an important matchup for the Spartans basketball team for a number of reasons. The obvious is that the team has a chance to wrap-up sole possession of the Big Ten Championship with a win at Indiana. But, looking at the wins, one could argue that closing out the Big Ten, and winning the Big Ten Tournament could shoot the Spartans into a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Now, obviously there are a lot of “if’s” here, and they would need some help in the ACC Tournament, but it’s conceivable.
The Spartans moved up one spot in both of the main polls on Monday, earning them a #8 ranking by the Coaches and the media.
Defense, Intensity Carry Spartans Past Illini
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 23:03
If you’ve read my previous articles, you already know that I have often accused this Spartan team of playing without passion. And on most of those occasions, I believe I was right- there had previously been no on-court leadership, no chest pounding, no jersey pulling, and no defensive players slapping the floor in the heat of battle. Today, however, all of that was vindicated.
The Spartans sealed at least a share of the Big Ten Title for the first time in nearly a decade with their 74-66 win over 20th ranked Illinois on Sunday afternoon in a raucous Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois. The team was able to overcome a strong second half push by the Illini, which saw Michigan State’s biggest lead of 11 points trimmed all the way down to a tie game at 58 after Korie Lucious turned over the ball at mid court for an easy Illinois bucket.
Freshmen Help Lift Slow-Moving Spartans Past Hawkeyes
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 18:13
With four games left on the bill, the Spartans needed a win against Big Ten bottom dweller Iowa on Wednesday night. They got that win; but, it wasn’t pretty. The game resembled a pretty typical Big Ten game these days: it was relatively slow moving, a lot of fouls were called, players were bumping, players were firing three’s, and the Spartans dominated their opponent on the boards.
Michigan State, however, did get some much needed love from some of their freshmen that helped them overcome an offensive strategy that, at times, seemed lethargic. Delvon Roe scored a career high 16 points in the victory, while also nabbing 3 boards in the process.
Defense, Solid Second-Half Push Spartans Past Streaking Badgers
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 00:27
The Michigan State Men’s Basketball Team played about 12 good minutes of basketball Sunday afternoon. Luckily for them, it was the last 12 minutes of regulation play. The Spartans (21-5, 11-3) used solid defense and a strong second half by Senior Goran Suton and Sophomore guard Kalin Lucas to overcome a 12 point Wisconsin lead with 12 ½ minutes left to play.
Lucas scored 17 points for the Big Ten leading Spartans, while Suton added 16 while also grabbing 10 boards. Chris Allen was the next highest scorer with 8, including a big three coming down the stretch to assist Michigan State on a 32-9 run to close out the game.
Coming into the game, Wisconsin had won 5 straight games after losing 6 in a row.
The State of the Big Ten
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Wed, 02/18/2009 - 21:02After last night’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Boilermakers, I decided that it was time we take a look at the Big Ten picture, and what the contending teams have left to face. Here’s what the standings look like as of today:
Road Block
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 23:09
Just when we thought they were starting to roll: a big win on the road against a rival, holding their last three opponents to less than 50 points. Michigan State went to West Lafayette and laid an egg, an enormous egg. The Spartans lost in an unflattering fashion 72-54 to the Boilermakers, letting Purdue back into the Big Ten race, and within a game of the Spartans.
Almost nothing went right for the Spartans tonight as they faced off in a crucial Big Ten game against the Purdue Boilermakers. What was billed as a big time match-up for the Big Ten title race became a lopsided second-half route in favor of the home team. Michigan State failed to put the ball in the hoop, shooting only 32% from the field, and committed 22 turnovers which led to easy Purdue hoops.
Give Purdue’s defense credit however, the Boilermakers blocked a total of 8 shots, 3 coming from reserve forward Nemanja Calasan.
Spartans’ New Goal: Get Healthy
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 19:15
As we head into the home stretch of another exciting Big Ten season, the Spartans will be looking to capture their first conference crown in almost a decade. At this point, it would take a near disaster for the Spartans to finish with anything less than at least a share of the title-everyone else in the conference has at least 4 losses, meaning the front-running Spartans would need a disastrous collapse in order to let someone else take over the top spot. On paper, this seems nearly impossible.
After winning at Michigan, the Spartans proved that they can continue to win on the road, even when their offense struggles. This will need to continue as the Spartans head to what is likely to be a very intense atmosphere in West Lafayette, when they play the Boilermakers on Tuesday.
Spartans Destroy Hoosiers; Improved Wolverines Become the Next Challenge. Bonus: Early Football Rankings?
Submitted by Paul Mercier on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 19:41
A solid performance from freshman Draymond Green was all the Spartans needed to overcome a Durrell Summers shooting drought on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. The 9th ranked Spartans, now 19-4 on the season, took a small lead into the second half, but came out on fire and never looked back. Led by Green’s double-double (the first of his young career), the Spartans took advantage of Indiana’s youth, and played scorching defense, holding the Hoosiers to 31% from the field and 18% from behind the ark.
