Michigan State University Basketball Blog

This was three smaller games crammed into one.  The first game was MSU dominating the Buckeyes in the first fifteen minutes of the game.  The Spartans built up leads of 27-7 and 32-11 and this game looked like it was going to be a blowout.

The second game was OSU’s big run.  They closed out the second half on a 10-2 run and this carried over into the second half when they expanded their run to 25-7 to make it a three point game.

The third game was a back and forth game.  OSU would pull to within five points before MSU would go on a mini-run and while they never got it back to a ten point lead, they did enough to hold on to win.  The final minutes dragged on with OSU fouling to try to get back into it but the Sparants ended up winning it 66-60.

Raymar Morgan disappeared in this one, mostly due to foul trouble.  He scored just six points and his first field goal didn’t come until there was just 13 points left in the second half.  Drew Neitzel led the way with thirteen and he had three big three pointers.  Two of those were early and the third was in the middle of OSU’s big run and it made the difference between MSU keeping the lead and OSU tying it up.

The Spartans completely dominated on the glass.  They had 39 rebounds with 17 of those being on the offensive glass.  This made up for the pathetic nine for seventeen that the Spartans shot from the line.

Next up are the Gophers on Sunday.  Game time is 4 pm.

From golf galaxy, not only can you buy golf carts and golf shoes but can also get information to various packages for golf vacations. You can also get information on lacrosse and baseball classes from there.

Here’s a great column on how the Spartans aren’t quite over their turnover woes yet.  A lot of good stuff in here.

Basketball Prospectus runs down the Big Ten race in a nice column and he points to the Spartans lack of turnovers being a major bright spot for the team.   It’s looking like it’ll be a three team race with MSU at the top of the heap and Indiana and Wisconsin chasing MSU’s tail.  MSU kicks things off in the Big Ten tomorrow at home against Minnesota.

If you looking for information on golf vacations as well as that of baseball and basketball, then golf galaxy is definitely the right place to go. Not only on golf, but you will also be able to find ample information on hockey and lacrosse.

The Spartans took care of business last night with their biggest win of the season as they edged Texas and it was Kalin Lucas who gave the Spartans a huge spark off the bench.  He scored a career high 18 points to go with six rebounds and six assists.  They needed some production off the bench because Drew Neitzel was held in check and he took just six shots.

Goran Suton was then man on the glass with a team high nine rebounds.  This doesn’t happen too often, but Texas had more rebounds then the Spartans yet MSU still pulled it out.  They did hold Texas to under 40% shooting but for whatever reason, Texas came out firing and took 29 shots from behind the three point line.

MSU plays Wisconsin-Green Bay next Saturday and hopefully that game is a mere formality before the Big Ten schedule kicks off after the New Year.  Hopefully you all have a very Sparty holiday between now and then.

Rivals.com recently unveiled their updated player power rankings and at the top of the small forward list is Raymar Morgan.  There’s no doubt Morgan has been a huge catalyst to the Spartans solid start and you have to hope he just keeps it up.  They have Drew Neitzel in the shooting guard category and he’s ranked ninth and Tom Izzo is the fifth highest ranked coach.

The Spartans go for their sixth straight win on Saturday when they take on IPWF.  Looking ahead, they have a big game against Texas a week from Saturday and that will be their toughest game heading into the conference schedule that begins after the new year.

The Dolphins never stood a chance in this one as the Spartans routed Jacksonville 80-51.  Raymar Morgan led the way with a team high 24 points and seven rebounds and he was about as effecient as they come.  He shot an impressive eight for eleven from the field and he was eight for eight from the line.

Drew Neitzel had seven assists in the win and he poured in ten points.  Thirteen players got time in this one as Tom Izzo gave everyone a chance to play.  Freshman Kalin Lucas had a team high eight assists off the bench and he also had an impressive four steals.  Chris Allen also pitched in with ten points off the bench.

Joe Rexrode from the Lansing State Journal ran down some of the quotes he got from both MSU and UCLA players after Wednesday’s game.  Good stuff here and I thought the one on how the Spartans rebounded was particularly enlighening.

Just a day after edging Missouri to get into the CBE Classic final, the Spartans lost a tough game to the UCLA Bruins last night.  It was a tale of two halves as the Spartans took care of business in the first half only to give up 43 in the second half to lose to the second ranked team.  Raymar Morgan was really held in check and he took just eight shots while picking up only two rebounds.  Drew Neitzel led the Spartans with just thirteen points.

The Spartans didn’t take care of business on the glass.  Not only were they out rebounded 31-24, but 18 of those 31 rebounds for UCLA were on the offensive glass.  UCLA also got to the line twice as many times as the Spartans.

Still, they kept pace with a team who many thought was the top team in the country.  Next up is Oakland University on Saturday, which should be an easy win, assuming they don’t pull what they did against Grand Valley State.

The Spartans won the Michigan State regional of the CBE Classic rather handily and they wrapped things up last night with a blowout win over Louisiana-Monroe.  They did it with some nice defense in holding their opposition to a .343 field goal percentage and the shot well themselves (.540).  Four different players scored in double figures and it was Chris Allen off the bench who led the team with seventeen points.  Drew Neitzel scored fifteen and Tuesday’s star, Raymar Morgan, scored thirteen and picked up a team high fourteen rebounds.

Next up is Missouri on Monday as the CBE classic continued. It they can beat Missouri, they’ll play the winner of the Maryland/UCLA game.

Over at Basketbal Prospectus, two of their experts chatted about college basketball’s opening weekend.  Probably the most interesting items regard Michigan, who’s off to a decent start.  Of course it couldn’t have been that big of a deal because this UM blogger didn’t even cover the game. He’s right not to get too excited because just like you can expect MSU football to choke during a given season, you can expect the same thing from Michigan basketball.  They might look like a tournament team in January, but when March rolls around, they’ll have had a collapse that’ll keep them out of it.

John Gasaway over at Basketball Prospectus (a kick ass site if you haven’t checked it out yet, I can’t wait for that book next year) recently previewed half of the teams in the Big Ten including Michigan State.  He talks about how MSU turned the ball over so much last year and he focuses on that as a key to the 2008 season.   Good stuff and he talks about some a few of the other teams including Michigan.

It looks like Tom Izzo is getting a little worried because while the Spartans beat Michigan Tech in their second exhibition game, it wasn’t an easy win.  The final was 61-55 but at one point late in the game, Tech had to pulled to within three points.

Drew Neitzel struggled on the court and that’s particularly disconcerting.  He shot just five for fifteen and it looks like he never really got going in the game.  Kalin Lucas led the way with 16 points while Goran Suton put 15 points on the board.

The Spartans open their season next Wednesday against Chicago State in the CBE Classic - Michigan State Regional.  Hopefully Izzo will have worked out what problems this team is having and we can kick off the season with a couple of wins.

The media recently singled out the Spartans as the team to beat in the Big Ten this year, even ahead of last year’s national championship runner up Ohio State and a tough Indiana team.  Even better, Drew Neitzel was chosen as the preseason conference player of the year on an all-conference team that highlights players from five different teams.  It’s the first time MSU has had a preseason conference player of the year since Mateen Cleaves back in 1999-2000 and we all know how that season went.

Neitzel can’t do it alone though but you have to believe with all of the starters coming back that the rest of the Spartans should all be on the same page.

Today, the USA Today/ESPN Poll released their pre-season top 25 rankings (click below). The Spartans got the nod for #8! This is a very impressive ranking and bodes well for the 2007-08 season. Stay tuned for our season previews coming up.

USA Today/ESPN Poll

Here’s a nice one stop summary of the 2007-08 Spartans from Rivals.com writer Bob McClellan.  Good stuff and you get everything from how Drew Neitzel should do this year to who they think the Spartans impact newcomer will be (Chris Allen).  It’s a nice way to get reacquainted wih the Spartans as their season kicks off soon.

The MSU Spartans will kick off the 2007-08 season with the traditional “Midnight Madness” event. This season, however, will be quite different. Instead of Tom Izzo going ape and climbing down the Breslin Arena rafters on a rope, the event will involve ice–Biggie Munn style. Munn Arena (http://www.munnicearena.com/) will be the venue for both the men’s and women’s teams. The event is slated to begin at 9 PM. It will be quite interesting to see how the court looks in the arena. The 6,500 or so seat arena should provide a quaint setting for the event. Over the years, I believe that the men’s hockey team has really dropped the ball in not having a big hockey event at Breslin. So it is nice to see Tom Izzo and Ron Mason finally getting more creative with their sports venues. It’s about time.

Stay tuned for our season preview coming soon and overview of the Big Ten season. Go Green!

Hi, I’m Moose and welcome to the MSU Basketball Blog.  My friend, Bucky, and I are both MSU alumni, we’ve spend plenty of time at the Breslin Center and we love college basketball, especially the Spartans.  Here we’ll break down the action during the Spartan’s season and hopefully provide some good analysis that you might not be able to find anywhere else.  So we hope you stop by and follow the season along with us.

In the meantime, Andy Katz graded each of the top team’s schedules in this upcoming season and the Spartans got a pretty poor grade.  Tom Izzo normally likes to stack a tough pre-Big Ten schedule but it looks like this year, it’s a little lighter.  It’s not an easy schedule, but it’s definitely not loaded with Top 25 teams like it normally is.