January 9, 2025: Michigan State returned home to the Breslin along with the Izzone Alumni to put on a show obliterating the Washington Huskies 88-54. The Spartans only allowed the Huskies 13 points in the first half and dominated Washington in just about every aspect of the game. MSU held Washington’s best player, Great Osobor, to just 6 points on 0-8 shooting en route to one of their best defensive performances of the season. Jaden Akins led the Spartans in scoring with 20 while Fears had a dou...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 262
January 6, 2025: Michigan State returns to the Breslin Center after a victory in Columbus and a 3-0 league record. They welcome in the Washington Huskies formerly of the Pac-12 for their first visit to East Lansing. This is certainly a game that MSU is projected to win but Washington will present some interesting challenges. Most notably is Great Osobor who is a transfer from Utah State who came with first year head coach, Danny Sprinkle, as one of the top players available in the portal. Osobor...
Jan 06, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 261
January 3, 2025: Michigan State resumed Big Ten play on the road against Ohio State in much the same way they ended play in early December - with a win. This time they won 69-62 in a hard fought game against a good opponent. It was a game in which MSU led most of the game outside of a brief moment in the second half after a huge Buckeye run that cut the Spartans’ lead from double digits. Ultimately, Michigan State was able to do just enough defensively to slow down the Buckeyes’ shooting and for...
Jan 04, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 260
January 2, 2025: Happy New Year to you and your families as we talk about MSU’s upcoming resumption of Big Ten play against the Ohio State Buckeyes. We are probably 4-5 weeks away from having a real good feel for the quality of any of the Big Ten teams. Ohio State is a good example of that. The Buckeyes opened the season with a big win over Texas but then dropped a game to Texas A&M. They seemed to get back on track until they lost big to Auburn and Maryland. Just when you thought things mig...
Jan 02, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 259
December 30, 2024: Michigan State welcomed back former assistant coach Dwayne Stephens with his Western Michigan Bronco team and handed them an 80-62 loss. Despite the 18 point deficit, it was a game in which Western Michigan kept within 5-10 points for the majority of the game. However, it was some late opportune shooting and defense which pushed out the lead at the end of the game for the Spartans. Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place we recomme...
Dec 31, 2024•26 min•Ep. 258
December 30, 2024: New MSU commit, Cam Ward is a 6’7” 210# forward from Upper Marlboro, MD. He will join the Spartans next year and comes with a diverse game scoring, shooting, rebounding, and defending. Ward won the Gatorade POY for Maryland last year and is looking to defend his high school’s state title as well. All of this he does under the coaching from his father whom he says has been a good teacher and (hopefully) someone who readies him for Head Coach Izzo next year. Are you looking for ...
Dec 30, 2024•35 min•Ep. 257
December 27, 2024: The Spartans will welcome back former long time assistant coach Dwayne Stephens and his Western Michigan Broncos on Monday at the Breslin Center. It’s been tough sledding for Stephens at Western as he has had trouble assembling a competitive team even in the diminished mid-american conference. This year’s team isn’t off to a great start at just 3-8 with only two of those wins over D1 schools. Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? There’s only one place...
Dec 27, 2024•51 min•Ep. 256
December 21, 2024: Michigan State returned back to the Breslin Center for a home game against the Florida Atlantic Owls and cruised to an 86-69 victory. It was a close game throughout the first 13-14 minutes of the game until MSU started to tighten the screws on defense and finished with a 42-29 lead at half time. The Spartans continued to do just enough to extend the lead slightly and cruise in with a 17 point win over a good team. Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear? ...
Dec 22, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 255
December 19, 2024: Michigan State returns back to the Breslin Center for a home game against former Final Four team - the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Owls are under a new coach this year as Dusty May moved on to Ann Arbor. But the Owls seem to be a pretty good team with an 8-5 record and a lot of size. FAU is a top 100 team on Ken Pom with a rating of #46 on offense but #179 on defense. Teams are rebounding well against the Owls as well as shooting an almost impossible 40% from behind the arc. Th...
Dec 19, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 254
December 17, 2024: Michigan State was challenged by Oakland once again struggling to manage a 32-31 lead at half time at Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit. But the second half was a different animal as the Spartans blasted the Golden Grizzlies by 18 to win comfortably 77-58. It was a game where both teams coming in were struggling from 3 but each shot 35%. The difference in the game was MSU dominated second chance points 25-7 by achieving 59% offensive rebounding rate. Next up for the Spartans is...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 253
December 15, 2024: Michigan State heads back to the hard court after ten days off since their two Big Ten matchups. The Spartans continue their long annual series with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies for its 23rd year. So far, MSU is 22-0 in the series but Oakland usually poses some interesting challenges for the Green and White. Oakland is coming off its most important win in their history last year where they won a first round NCAA tournament game by upsetting Kentucky. They weren’t able to keep ...
Dec 16, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 252
December 7, 2024: Michigan State came out on Saturday and destroyed the Nebraska Cornhuskers 89-52 to open the Spartans’ home Big Ten play. The 37 point margin was tied for the second biggest Big Ten winning margin for MSU in their history. The game looked exactly as you would expect for a blowout win at home against a very good Big Ten opponent. Nebraska was ranked 41st on KenPom coming into the game so we expected a close and competitive game. What transpired over 40 minutes became much less t...
Dec 08, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 251
December 5, 2024: On Saturday, Michigan State will welcome in Fred Hoiberg and his Nebraska Cornhuskers as the Spartans’ Big Ten home opener. It will be Nebraska’s first Big Ten game and one in which they carry a 6-1 non conference record highlighted with an 11 point win on the road at Creighton. The ‘Huskers play fast, defend well, and shoot pretty well which should give MSU a challenge at home before finals week and a slowed down December schedule. Questions abound for the Spartans team whose ...
Dec 06, 2024•57 min•Ep. 250
December 4, 2024: Michigan State’s conference season opener was a good one on the road as they come away from Williams Arena in Minneapolis with a 90-72 victory over the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. It was a win in which MSU did just about everything we suspected they would need to do to get a win. Run, rebound, and shoot well. It was the first game this year where the Spartans shot well from behind the arc going 11-22 for 3 and had 25 assists on 29 field goals. They also dominated the Gophers o...
Dec 05, 2024•59 min•Ep. 249
December 2, 2024: Michigan State hits the road for the first time this year as they take on Minnesota in Minneapolis to tip off conference play. Minnesota has taken a huge step back this season after being decimated by the portal and one of their best players leaving for the NBA. So MSU will take on the Gophers in a game against a team that struggles to shoot the 3, 2, and one point shot (free throw). It might be a game that comes down to free throw attempts and rebounding which should both be t...
Dec 02, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 248
November 28, 2024: Michigan State played North Carolina down to the wire in the third place game at the Maui Invitational and managed to down the Tar Heels in overtime, 94-91. It was a game that MSU led with a fairly comfortable margin throughout the latter parts of the first half just about to the end of the game when they had a bit of a meltdown and allowed North Carolina to tie the game and send it into OT. However, the Spartans were able to prevail behind some team defense and making just en...
Nov 28, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 247
November 26, 2024: Michigan State played Memphis in the second round of the Maui Invitational after a relatively easy win in the first round against Colorado. Today despite hitting finally their threes, MSU were worse offensively with 2pt FGs and FT leading to an 8 point loss 71-63. Michigan State will now move onto the consolation game against the loser of the Auburn/North Carolina game late on Wednesday night. Hopefully the Spartans can clean up a little bit on their ball possession and free t...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 246
November 25, 2024: Michigan State played in the first round of the Maui Invitational tonight and cruised past Colorado despite only shooting 9.5% from behind the arc. Deep shooting is clearly a huge concern for this team but they are doing everything else so well that it is covering for the shooting to this point. The most remarkable aspect of the game for the Spartans was their defense and rebounding. They held a very good offense rebounding team to just 20% offensive rebounding rate and under ...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 245
November 22, 2024: Michigan State is heading to beautiful Maui for Feast Week this year and a loaded Maui Invitational. The tournament features Auburn, Iowa State, North Carolina, Memphis, Dayton, UConn, Colorado, and Michigan State. Lots of potential final four teams in the field. The Spartans will open up against the weakest (on paper anyway) team in the field with Colorado. The teams don't have a whole lot of history with the last meeting in 2003 in the first round of the NCAA tournament whic...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 244
November 19, 2024: Samford visited the Breslin Center bringing their frenetic full court press and 3 point attack challenging the Spartans in new ways this season. Fortunately for the Green and White, they held off the pesky Bulldogs, 83-75. Once again, Jaden Akins had a fantastic game outside of his foolish technical foul. Finally a few 3s started to fall for him and we can only hope it becomes contagious with the rest of the team. Also of note, Jase Richardson left the game late with an appare...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 243
November 18, 2024: Michigan State welcomes Samford to the Breslin on Tuesday night for their last warmup before the Maui Invitational next week. The Bulldogs represent a real challenge as they are again expected to win the Southland Conference and nearly beat Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament earlier this year. Samford will provide a real test as they are the second fastest team in the country and rely heavily on the 3 point shot and foul line to punish their opponents. Fans sho...
Nov 18, 2024•52 min•Ep. 242
November 16, 2024: Bowling Green top assistant coach and former MSU point guard, Tum Tum Nairn almost spoiled his homecoming to East Lansing with an upset by the Falcons. Michigan State needed a 10-0 run to end the first half to tie the game at half time and then an 18-0 run to finish the game to secure a 14 point win, 86-72. Despite the double digit loss, the Falcons controlled the majority of the game. They were tough, physical, and made plays when they needed them. We expect MSU to start hitt...
Nov 17, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 241
November 14, 2024: The Spartans welcome back a familiar face to the Breslin on Saturday night as Tum Tum Nairn makes his assistant coaching debut with the Bowling Green Falcons. It comes after Michigan State fell to top ranked Kansas at the Champions Classic where they shot 3-24 from 3 point range. Michigan State will look to correct those shooting woes. Other than the poor long range shooting, the offense and defense look pretty good. We will also be watching to see how Jaden Akins bounces back...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 240
November 12, 2024: Michigan State falls to Kansas 77-69 in the Champions Classic in Atlanta tonight. Although there were some very encouraging signs to the offense tonight, for the second straight year they are struggling to hit beyond the arc early again the season. The Spartans went 3-24 from behind the line despite many of them being wide open. On the bright side of things, they were much improved over last year in their fast break, half court offensive tempo, and insistence on attacking the ...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 239
November 10, 2024: Michigan State will take on Kansas in what might be the rubber match for their meetings in the Champions Classic. The teams currently have a 2-2 record against each other in the early season premiere showdown and this is very likely one of the last years of the Classic. Conference realignments and TV deals are rapidly changing the face of the non-conference schedules meaning these marquee events are going away. Michigan State has yet to be tested this year with high end compet...
Nov 10, 2024•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 238
November 8, 2024: Michigan State played their second game of the year where Niagara falls to MSU 96-60 behind the outstanding play of Jaxon Kohler. Kohler finished the game with 20 points, 13 rebounds (6 offensive), and 2 steals in just 17 minutes on the floor. This was the first time that he finished the way we’ve been waiting for. The Spartans were also helped with great play again from their guards. Fears finished with 7 points and 8 assists to just one turnover. Akins had 10 points and 6 reb...
Nov 08, 2024•46 min•Ep. 237
November 6, 2024: Michigan State will take on Kansas in the Champions Classic next week but first, they host Niagara on Thursday at the Breslin Center. This expects to be the easiest competition of the season for the Spartans. So in this game we look to see if some early signs continue for the Green & White. Namely, will they continue to hit the offensive glass hard and will we see the same Jaden Akins we saw in the Monmouth game? Are you looking for collegiate apparel including Spartan gear...
Nov 06, 2024•53 min•Ep. 236
November 4, 2024: Unlike last year, Michigan State opened up the season with a win over Monmouth, 81-57. The Spartans looked different in this game in that they had their fast break humming and were dominant on the boards racking up almost 50% offensive rebounding rate. The one similarity to last season’s opener against James Madison was the dreadful 3 point shooting (3-18). Despite the shooting, Jaden Akins was phenomenal scoring 23 points, nine rebounds, 5 assists and took over the game in the...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 235
November 2, 2024: It's finally here! The MSU opener at the Breslin Center and the start of a new point guard era in the Green and White. Redshirt Freshman Jeremy Fears, Jr. will lead the team against the Monmouth Hawks in what they hope will be a better start to the season than last year. There will be quite a few things we will be looking for in the game - notably offensive rebounding and tempo. Hopefully we will see a return to the Spartans punishing teams on the offensive glass and more of a ...
Nov 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 234
October 30, 2024: At Michigan State under Tom Izzo, we refer to various eras based on who is playing the point. So with the departure of AJ Hoggard, MSU has officially left the Hoggard Era and entered the Fears Era. Jeremy Fears, Jr. might have had his season last year cut short after suffering a gun shot wound in his leg from a random intruder over winter break. Fortunately for the Spartans and Fears, he appears to be fully healthy and ready to begin a new point guard era which looks to be one ...
Oct 30, 2024•2 hr 46 min•Ep. 231
