Michigan State University was founded in 1885 as Agricultural College of the State of Michigan in response to the rise of scientific agriculture in Europe and desire for college level education for agriculturalists in MI. Known as State Agricultural College in 1861, Michigan Agricultural College 1909, Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science 1925, Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in 1955
Today MSU has 5300 small city acres in East Lansing, enrolls 52,089 (41,234 undergrad), $4.4 B endowment, USN&WR No. 63 public school, WSJ No. 60
Famous alumni include Nobel Prize laureates Alfred D Hershey, David MacMillan, 20 Rhodes Scholars, 8 Pulitzer Prize winners, actors James Caan, Robert Urich, Tom Sizemore, Chad Everett, former National Defense University president ret. Lt Gen USMC Frances C. Wilson, Barbar Ross-Lee: 1st African – American woman dean of a U.S. medical school, NFL HOF’rs Herb Adderly, Joe DeLamielleure, all-time leading scorer K Morten Anderson, KC Chiefs great Ed Budde, father of SC’s Brad Budde. LA Dodger greats Steve Garvey, closer Mike Marshall, World Series hero Kirk Gibson. HOF pitcher Robin Roberts, Big Mac creator/owner of 50+ McD’s Jim Delligatti, Bruce Ableson Creator of Open Diary, Lloyd Groff Copeman inventor of electric stove, Gary Starkweather laser printer inventor, Anaheim Ducks announcer John Ahlers, Motel 6 pitchman Tom Bodett, Bachelor season 5 winner Ed Swiderski, pro wrestler George ‘The Animal’ Steele, hotelier Jack DeBoer (Residence Inn, etal), Teamsters pres. James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy, Home Depot CEO Craig Menear, Thomas H. Bailey founder Janus Capital, Eli Broad billionaire industrialist, philanthropist, Dan Gilbert founder Quicken Loans, Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, Pistons owner Tom Gores, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, Jr, Baby Einstein company founder Julie Aigner Clark
MSU Athletics: Big Ten since 1949 (formerly Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assn (MIAA), Central Collegiate Conference).19 NCAA championships: 8 cross country, 3 ice hockey, 2 basketball, 2 boxing, 2 soccer, 1 wrestling; 7 Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) titles; 122 Conference Championships; 13 Olympic Gold medals, 12 Silver, 5 Bronze
Colors – Green & White, Nickname – Spartans, Mascot – Sparty, Fight Song: Victory for MSU
Basketball started 1898 (1810-1098, .622), 1979, 2000 National Champions, 2009 runner-up, 10 Final Fours (last 2019), 14 Elite Eights, 21 Sweet Sixteen, 37 NCAA appearances, 16 Conf. championships, 6 conf. tournament championships. 1979 NCAA title MSU & Ervin “Magic” Johnson defeated Indiana St & Larry Bird 76-64, 3 Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF – Pete Newell, Magic Johnson, Tom Izzo; 10 retired numbers: 4 Scott Skiles, 12 Mateen Cleaves, 21 Steve Smith, 23 Draymond Green, 24 Johnny Green/Shawn Respert, 31 Jay Vincent, 32 Greg Kelser, 33 Magic, 42 Morris Peterson; AP National POY Denzel Valentine, 9 B1G POY, 5 B1G COY – 2x Heathcote, 3x Izzo, National COY – Tom Izzo, 12 Consensus AAs; 66 NBA draft picks (21 1st rd, No. 1 overall pick Magic Johnson), 5 Current NBA players: Draymond Green, Gary Harris, Jaren Jackson, Miles Bridges, Xavier Tillman
Winningest coaches: Tom Izzo 717-297, .707, Jud Heathcote 340-220, .607, Benjamin Van Alstyne 231-163, .586. The 1951-52 team was MSU’s 1st ranked team (Pete Newell’s 1st season after hiring from USF) & beat No. 14 ND, 1st win over ranked opponent in school history. After 4 seasons, Cal hired Newell, considered one of most influential figures in bball history
Current -Tom Izzo (30th season) 717-297, .707, 2000 National Champion, 8 Final Four, 1998 AP COY, 3x B1G COY, 2011 John Wooden Legends of Coaching Award
Currently: No. 7 ranked, 1st in B1G, 18-2 (9-0) W: N. Michigan, Ferris St, Monmouth, Niagara, Bowling Green Samford, Colorado, UNC, Minn, Nebraska, Oakland, FL Atlantic, W. Mich, Ohio St, UW, NW, Penn St, Illinois; L: Kansas, Memphis Rutgers, Minn
All-time: MSU leads 4-3. SC won 1953, ’64,’70. 2023 NCAA 1st rd (MSU wins 72-62) – SC led by Josh Morgan 14 pts, Kobe 13. 2009 Rd of 32 (MSU wins 74-69) – SC led by Dwight Lewis 19 pts, DeMar 18, Daniel Hackett 13
MSU NET 7, KenPom 14, SC NET 73, KenPom 67
MSU Scores: 81.3 ppg (+14.1), 47.4% FG, 28.3% 3FG, 5.6 3’s/g, 81.2% FT. Rebounds 40.9 pg (+10.1), Assists 18.5 pg, TOs 12.0 pg (+0.1), Steals 5.7 pg, Blks 5.3 pg
MSU Leaders:
Scoring: Jaden Akins 13.6 ppg (42.8% FG, 29.3% 3FG, 87% FT), Jase Richardson 9.6 ppg (56% FG, 42.5% 3FG, 85.7% FT), Coen Carr 8.7 ppg (60% FG, 37.5% 3FG, 69.8% FT), Tre Holloman 8.3 ppg (37.9% FG, 33.8% 3FG, 93.8% FT), Frankie Fidler 8.3 ppg (39.3% FG, 19.1% 3FG, 91% FT)
Rebounding: Jaxon Kohler 7.6 rpg, Szymon Zapala 4.7; Assists – Jeremy Fears, Jr 6.3; Steals – Fears 1.0, Blks – Xavier Booker 0.9
SC scores: 77.0 ppg (+4.2), 48.2% FG, 34.8% 3FG, 6.6 3’s/g, 73.7% FT; Rebs 32.1 rpg; Assists 16.0 apg, TOs 11.6 pg (+1.3), 15.8 ppg/TO; Steals 6.5; Blks 2.7
SC Leaders
Scoring: Des 16.1 ppg (50% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 76% FT), Agbo 11.6 (38.5% FG, 36.8% 3FG, 86.5% FT), Yates 11.4 (48.3% FG, 36.4% 3FG, 76.6% FT), Saint 11.1 (46.8% FG, 34.4% 3FG, 64.3% FT), Cohen 7.4 (61.5% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 75.6% FT), Agee 7.0 (55.7% FG, 38.5% 3FG, 78.1% FT)
Rebounds: Saint 6.3, Agbo 5; Assists Des 4.3, Saint 4.2; Steals Saint 1.4, Yates 1.3; Blks; Agee 0.6
Pregame
No Founder’s report – out for the season recovering from surgery
It’s Izzo’s 70th B-day and he’s wishing for his 353rd B1G win to tie him with the late Bobby Knight. He’s hoping to set the record in the House that Wooden Built. The morning of the game, he & staff were on campus. He was seen looking at the All-American wall outside of the football locker room
Muss keys to the game: Transition defense, defensive rebounding, find mismatches to score
MSU is only undefeated B1G team. Their 18.5 ppg fastbreak pts leads NCAA. Lead B1G in bench pts (38 ppg), FT made (19.1) & blks (5.3). Izzo’s teams always play tough D & have Opp FG% under 40%
Former SC recruit Jaxon Kohler nabs 7.6 rebs/g to lead MSU. Enfield recruited him out of American Fork HS in Utah and he officially visited, but SC ended up the bridesmaid
The crowd is the largest at Galen this season 8251 for this Trojans vs Spartans war, unfortunately about half are wearing green/white. 30K MSU alums live in the LA/OC area. Buzo tells his teammates they’ll have to be road dawgs once again
The Game
Starters: Agee will start for Cohen, alongside Saint, Des, Agbo, Yates
Agbo misses 2 3FG before SC scores on FTs by Des at 18:44, followed by layups by Des and Agee to give SC a 6-0 lead at 17:14. After 2 TOs & 3 missed shots, MSU finally gets on the board at 16:46 on a 3FG by Holloman. Yates answers with 3 at 16:23 and SC builds the lead to its largest of the game, 15 pts (22-7) at 12:55 on Des’ 2 FTs. Obviously, the team worked on FT’s following their collapse vs. ucla. Des suffers an apparent knee injury at 9:26 after swatting Fears layup into the seats and Trojan fans hold their collective breaths as he’s helped to the locker room. Hopefully, it isn’t serious
MSU has a 14-2 run to make it a 3 pt game 24-21 at 5:56. They would get to within 2 at 2:08 on Zapala’s dunk and one
It wasn’t serious, Des was back at 4:24, Muss overruled the trainer who wanted another minute on stationary bike to evaluate Des. Muss said “I don’t have a minute” and sent Des to the scorer’s table. SC kept the lead going into halftime 35-32
Post-game Izzo said “he had an asst coach that said 'what starts bad, ends bad,' and this start was atrocious, We wanted to go inside right off the bat. We turned the ball over twice. We took a couple of bad shots. ... We got punched in the mouth, and that doesn't happen to us very often"
Muss had reached into his bag of defensive tricks and pulled out the Paintball defense he used at Arkansas vs Duke last year. It’s a gamble & only works vs certain personnel. It worked at the start of game, our defenders didn’t come out of the lane against Carr or Zapala, allowing SC an extra defender at the rim. Boss move by Muss
For the half:
MSU shot 39.3% FG (11-28), 50% 3FG (3-6), 63.6% FT (7-11)
SC shot 38.7% FG (12-31), 30% 3FG (3-10), 100% FT (8-8)
2nd Half
SC started the 2nd half like the 1st, scoring the first 5 pts to make the score 37-32 at 18:45 on Des’ 3FG. SC had its largest lead of the 2nd half 10 pts at 55-45 on Yates 3FG at 13:24. The Spartans got within 3 on a couple of occasions but the game was basically over when Saint went QB on an inbounds pass throwing a dime down to his WR Yates who took 2 steps and jammed it to make it 68-61 at :37. SC led the entire game, wire to wire, and won this one 70-64. Very B1G Win for SC! Hopefully this will get more Trojan fans to Galen.
For the game:
MSU shot 42.1% FG (24-57), 33.3% 3FG (5-15), 57.9% FT (11-19)
SC shot 42.1% FG (24-57), 31.8% 3FG (7-22), 78.9% FT (15-19)
SC moves up from 11th to a tie for 8th in B1G standings and boosts tournament hopes. They go to NET 68 and KenPom 60 w/ 10 games left to move up. They keep Izzo a game behind Bobby Knight and show maybe they belong in the B1G.
SC improved to 13-8 (5-5) and MSU fell to 18-3 (9-1).
Up Next: Northwestern (in Evanston, IL) Feb 4th at 6 pm on B1G Network.
Fight On! Beat the Wildcats!
Today MSU has 5300 small city acres in East Lansing, enrolls 52,089 (41,234 undergrad), $4.4 B endowment, USN&WR No. 63 public school, WSJ No. 60
Famous alumni include Nobel Prize laureates Alfred D Hershey, David MacMillan, 20 Rhodes Scholars, 8 Pulitzer Prize winners, actors James Caan, Robert Urich, Tom Sizemore, Chad Everett, former National Defense University president ret. Lt Gen USMC Frances C. Wilson, Barbar Ross-Lee: 1st African – American woman dean of a U.S. medical school, NFL HOF’rs Herb Adderly, Joe DeLamielleure, all-time leading scorer K Morten Anderson, KC Chiefs great Ed Budde, father of SC’s Brad Budde. LA Dodger greats Steve Garvey, closer Mike Marshall, World Series hero Kirk Gibson. HOF pitcher Robin Roberts, Big Mac creator/owner of 50+ McD’s Jim Delligatti, Bruce Ableson Creator of Open Diary, Lloyd Groff Copeman inventor of electric stove, Gary Starkweather laser printer inventor, Anaheim Ducks announcer John Ahlers, Motel 6 pitchman Tom Bodett, Bachelor season 5 winner Ed Swiderski, pro wrestler George ‘The Animal’ Steele, hotelier Jack DeBoer (Residence Inn, etal), Teamsters pres. James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy, Home Depot CEO Craig Menear, Thomas H. Bailey founder Janus Capital, Eli Broad billionaire industrialist, philanthropist, Dan Gilbert founder Quicken Loans, Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, Pistons owner Tom Gores, Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane, Jr, Baby Einstein company founder Julie Aigner Clark
MSU Athletics: Big Ten since 1949 (formerly Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Assn (MIAA), Central Collegiate Conference).19 NCAA championships: 8 cross country, 3 ice hockey, 2 basketball, 2 boxing, 2 soccer, 1 wrestling; 7 Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) titles; 122 Conference Championships; 13 Olympic Gold medals, 12 Silver, 5 Bronze
Colors – Green & White, Nickname – Spartans, Mascot – Sparty, Fight Song: Victory for MSU
Basketball started 1898 (1810-1098, .622), 1979, 2000 National Champions, 2009 runner-up, 10 Final Fours (last 2019), 14 Elite Eights, 21 Sweet Sixteen, 37 NCAA appearances, 16 Conf. championships, 6 conf. tournament championships. 1979 NCAA title MSU & Ervin “Magic” Johnson defeated Indiana St & Larry Bird 76-64, 3 Naismith Memorial Basketball HOF – Pete Newell, Magic Johnson, Tom Izzo; 10 retired numbers: 4 Scott Skiles, 12 Mateen Cleaves, 21 Steve Smith, 23 Draymond Green, 24 Johnny Green/Shawn Respert, 31 Jay Vincent, 32 Greg Kelser, 33 Magic, 42 Morris Peterson; AP National POY Denzel Valentine, 9 B1G POY, 5 B1G COY – 2x Heathcote, 3x Izzo, National COY – Tom Izzo, 12 Consensus AAs; 66 NBA draft picks (21 1st rd, No. 1 overall pick Magic Johnson), 5 Current NBA players: Draymond Green, Gary Harris, Jaren Jackson, Miles Bridges, Xavier Tillman
Winningest coaches: Tom Izzo 717-297, .707, Jud Heathcote 340-220, .607, Benjamin Van Alstyne 231-163, .586. The 1951-52 team was MSU’s 1st ranked team (Pete Newell’s 1st season after hiring from USF) & beat No. 14 ND, 1st win over ranked opponent in school history. After 4 seasons, Cal hired Newell, considered one of most influential figures in bball history
Current -Tom Izzo (30th season) 717-297, .707, 2000 National Champion, 8 Final Four, 1998 AP COY, 3x B1G COY, 2011 John Wooden Legends of Coaching Award
Currently: No. 7 ranked, 1st in B1G, 18-2 (9-0) W: N. Michigan, Ferris St, Monmouth, Niagara, Bowling Green Samford, Colorado, UNC, Minn, Nebraska, Oakland, FL Atlantic, W. Mich, Ohio St, UW, NW, Penn St, Illinois; L: Kansas, Memphis Rutgers, Minn
All-time: MSU leads 4-3. SC won 1953, ’64,’70. 2023 NCAA 1st rd (MSU wins 72-62) – SC led by Josh Morgan 14 pts, Kobe 13. 2009 Rd of 32 (MSU wins 74-69) – SC led by Dwight Lewis 19 pts, DeMar 18, Daniel Hackett 13
MSU NET 7, KenPom 14, SC NET 73, KenPom 67
MSU Scores: 81.3 ppg (+14.1), 47.4% FG, 28.3% 3FG, 5.6 3’s/g, 81.2% FT. Rebounds 40.9 pg (+10.1), Assists 18.5 pg, TOs 12.0 pg (+0.1), Steals 5.7 pg, Blks 5.3 pg
MSU Leaders:
Scoring: Jaden Akins 13.6 ppg (42.8% FG, 29.3% 3FG, 87% FT), Jase Richardson 9.6 ppg (56% FG, 42.5% 3FG, 85.7% FT), Coen Carr 8.7 ppg (60% FG, 37.5% 3FG, 69.8% FT), Tre Holloman 8.3 ppg (37.9% FG, 33.8% 3FG, 93.8% FT), Frankie Fidler 8.3 ppg (39.3% FG, 19.1% 3FG, 91% FT)
Rebounding: Jaxon Kohler 7.6 rpg, Szymon Zapala 4.7; Assists – Jeremy Fears, Jr 6.3; Steals – Fears 1.0, Blks – Xavier Booker 0.9
SC scores: 77.0 ppg (+4.2), 48.2% FG, 34.8% 3FG, 6.6 3’s/g, 73.7% FT; Rebs 32.1 rpg; Assists 16.0 apg, TOs 11.6 pg (+1.3), 15.8 ppg/TO; Steals 6.5; Blks 2.7
SC Leaders
Scoring: Des 16.1 ppg (50% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 76% FT), Agbo 11.6 (38.5% FG, 36.8% 3FG, 86.5% FT), Yates 11.4 (48.3% FG, 36.4% 3FG, 76.6% FT), Saint 11.1 (46.8% FG, 34.4% 3FG, 64.3% FT), Cohen 7.4 (61.5% FG, 16.7% 3FG, 75.6% FT), Agee 7.0 (55.7% FG, 38.5% 3FG, 78.1% FT)
Rebounds: Saint 6.3, Agbo 5; Assists Des 4.3, Saint 4.2; Steals Saint 1.4, Yates 1.3; Blks; Agee 0.6
Pregame
No Founder’s report – out for the season recovering from surgery
It’s Izzo’s 70th B-day and he’s wishing for his 353rd B1G win to tie him with the late Bobby Knight. He’s hoping to set the record in the House that Wooden Built. The morning of the game, he & staff were on campus. He was seen looking at the All-American wall outside of the football locker room
Muss keys to the game: Transition defense, defensive rebounding, find mismatches to score
MSU is only undefeated B1G team. Their 18.5 ppg fastbreak pts leads NCAA. Lead B1G in bench pts (38 ppg), FT made (19.1) & blks (5.3). Izzo’s teams always play tough D & have Opp FG% under 40%
Former SC recruit Jaxon Kohler nabs 7.6 rebs/g to lead MSU. Enfield recruited him out of American Fork HS in Utah and he officially visited, but SC ended up the bridesmaid
The crowd is the largest at Galen this season 8251 for this Trojans vs Spartans war, unfortunately about half are wearing green/white. 30K MSU alums live in the LA/OC area. Buzo tells his teammates they’ll have to be road dawgs once again
The Game
Starters: Agee will start for Cohen, alongside Saint, Des, Agbo, Yates
Agbo misses 2 3FG before SC scores on FTs by Des at 18:44, followed by layups by Des and Agee to give SC a 6-0 lead at 17:14. After 2 TOs & 3 missed shots, MSU finally gets on the board at 16:46 on a 3FG by Holloman. Yates answers with 3 at 16:23 and SC builds the lead to its largest of the game, 15 pts (22-7) at 12:55 on Des’ 2 FTs. Obviously, the team worked on FT’s following their collapse vs. ucla. Des suffers an apparent knee injury at 9:26 after swatting Fears layup into the seats and Trojan fans hold their collective breaths as he’s helped to the locker room. Hopefully, it isn’t serious
MSU has a 14-2 run to make it a 3 pt game 24-21 at 5:56. They would get to within 2 at 2:08 on Zapala’s dunk and one
It wasn’t serious, Des was back at 4:24, Muss overruled the trainer who wanted another minute on stationary bike to evaluate Des. Muss said “I don’t have a minute” and sent Des to the scorer’s table. SC kept the lead going into halftime 35-32
Post-game Izzo said “he had an asst coach that said 'what starts bad, ends bad,' and this start was atrocious, We wanted to go inside right off the bat. We turned the ball over twice. We took a couple of bad shots. ... We got punched in the mouth, and that doesn't happen to us very often"
Muss had reached into his bag of defensive tricks and pulled out the Paintball defense he used at Arkansas vs Duke last year. It’s a gamble & only works vs certain personnel. It worked at the start of game, our defenders didn’t come out of the lane against Carr or Zapala, allowing SC an extra defender at the rim. Boss move by Muss
For the half:
MSU shot 39.3% FG (11-28), 50% 3FG (3-6), 63.6% FT (7-11)
SC shot 38.7% FG (12-31), 30% 3FG (3-10), 100% FT (8-8)
2nd Half
SC started the 2nd half like the 1st, scoring the first 5 pts to make the score 37-32 at 18:45 on Des’ 3FG. SC had its largest lead of the 2nd half 10 pts at 55-45 on Yates 3FG at 13:24. The Spartans got within 3 on a couple of occasions but the game was basically over when Saint went QB on an inbounds pass throwing a dime down to his WR Yates who took 2 steps and jammed it to make it 68-61 at :37. SC led the entire game, wire to wire, and won this one 70-64. Very B1G Win for SC! Hopefully this will get more Trojan fans to Galen.
For the game:
MSU shot 42.1% FG (24-57), 33.3% 3FG (5-15), 57.9% FT (11-19)
SC shot 42.1% FG (24-57), 31.8% 3FG (7-22), 78.9% FT (15-19)
SC moves up from 11th to a tie for 8th in B1G standings and boosts tournament hopes. They go to NET 68 and KenPom 60 w/ 10 games left to move up. They keep Izzo a game behind Bobby Knight and show maybe they belong in the B1G.
SC improved to 13-8 (5-5) and MSU fell to 18-3 (9-1).
Up Next: Northwestern (in Evanston, IL) Feb 4th at 6 pm on B1G Network.
Fight On! Beat the Wildcats!
