The Right Ideas

Michigan State ended the regular season with a win over rival Michigan, 64-48.

With the win, the Spartans finish the regular season 24-7 and 14-4 in conference play, tying them with Ohio State and Purdue for a share of the Big Ten Title. The Big Ten conference tournament starts this Thursday, and the Spartans hold a bye as the #3 seed.

Raymar Morgan led Michigan State with a double-double, scoring 22 points and adding 10 rebounds in his final game at the Breslin Center. Kalin Lucas and Delvon Roe added 10 points apiece.

Zach Gibson scored a team high 10 points for the Wolverines (14-16, 7-11) who will likely get a bid in the NIT unless they win the Big Ten Tournament. DeShawn Sims was held to just nine points for Michigan, who started the season ranked #15 in the pre-season polls.

Michigan State is guaranteed a bid in the NCAA tournament and will try to win its first Big Ten tournament in over 10 years.

Michigan State just barely slipped by Penn State on Thursday night, 67-65.

The Spartans held a seven point lead at the half before the Nittany Lions mounted a late second-half comeback. Taylor Battle and Chris Babb led the charge with 16 points apiece while Raymar Morgan led the Spartans with 16 of his own. Draymond Green added 14 and nine rebounds.

Penn State (11-18, 3-14) shot 46% from the field and 9-23 (39%) from three-point range. The Spartans shot 44% from the field and managed to out-rebound Penn State 39-24.

Michigan State (23-7, 13-4) is now tied with Purdue for second place in the Big Ten, just a 1/2 game back of first place Ohio State. The Spartans will play at home against rival Michigan on Sunday, which will end regular season play.

Michigan State defeated Purdue late Sunday afternoon, 53-44.

The Boilermakers were without their leader Robbie Hummel, who suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the week against Minnesota.

Draymond Green and Raymar Morgan both led Michigan State with a pair of double-doubles. Green had 12 points and 11 rebounds while Morgan added 16 and 11, respectively.

Michigan State shot 40% from the field and only 22% (2-9) from three-point range, but managed to out-rebound Purdue 44-16. The Spartans also committed 22 turnovers, eight of which were from point-guard Kalin Lucas.

E’Twaun Moore led Purdue (24-4,12-4) with 12 points while Chris Kramer and JaJuan Johnson each added 11 apiece. Purdue struggled from the floor, shooting 30% and 2-9 (22%) from three-point range. Despite being a strong free-throw shooting team, they only shot 67% (12-19) from the charity stripe.

Michigan State (22-7,12-4) is now tied for second with Purdue behind Ohio State, who now holds a 1/2 game lead for first place. The Spartans will take on Penn State at home this upcoming Thursday before ending the regular season on Sunday against Michigan, also at home.

Michigan State lost to Ohio State on Sunday afternoon, 74-67.

With the loss, Michigan State (21-7,11-4) has now lost four of their last six games and is now tied for second place in the Big Ten with Ohio State and Illinois.

The Buckeyes (21-7,11-4) shot 42% from the field and 41% (7-17) from three-point range. They out-rebounded Michigan State 38-32 and only committed eight turnovers in a rather lopsided victory.

Evan Turner led all scorers with 20 points while adding 10 rebounds for a double-double. William Buford also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards for Ohio State.

Durrell Summers led Michigan State with 16 points while Draymond Green added 11 and five rebounds. The Spartans shot 33% (5-15) from three-point range while only going 56% (10-18) from the free-throw line.

Michigan State has the upcoming week off and will play at first place Purdue (23-3, 11-3) next Sunday for a shot to reclaim at least a share of the Big Ten lead.

Michigan State defeated Indiana on Tuesday night, 72-58.

The Spartans led for most of the game, claiming a ten point lead at the half while outscoring Indiana (9-16) 32-28 in the second half.

Draymond Green led the Spartans with 14 points while Kalin Lucas added 13 and four assists. Verdell Jones III led all scorers with 20 points for th Hoosiers.

With the victory, Michigan State reclaimed the top spot for the Big Ten lead over Ohio State and Purdue.

The Spartans (21-6,11-3) will play second place Ohio State (20-6,10-3) at home this upcoming Sunday.

Michigan State beat Penn State on Saturday afternoon, 65-54.

The game was close for most of the way, thanks to the resilient efforts of Nittany Lion point guard Taylor Battle who led all scorers with 30 points.

Michigan State managed to pull away late in the second half with as Kalin Lucas ended with a team-high 24 points. The Spartans out-rebounded Penn State 32-23 while shooting 47% from the field.

Penn State managed to shoot 42% (11-26) from three-point range, but couldn’t contain the leadership of Kalin Lucas down the stretch.

Chris Allen contributed 14 points for the Spartans (20-6,10-3) who are still caught in a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten.

Michigan State will play at Indiana (9-15) next Tuesday.

Michigan State lost to Purdue on Tuesday night, 76-64.

This is the Spartans’ third straight loss, something that hasn’t happened in over two years.

Purdue lead throughout most of the game, shooting 57% from the field and 20-22 (91%) from the charity stripe. The Spartans couldn’t find an answer for E’Twaun Moore, who managed to score 27 points and six assists. Moore led all scorers while JaJuan Johnson added 19 points and seven rebounds for the Boilermakers (20-3).

Chris Allen led the way with 21 points for the Spartans, who managed to only shoot 32% from the field. Kalin Lucas scored 12 points with only one assist on his return from a sprained ankle.

Michigan State was also out-rebounded by Purdue 27-25. This is the third time that the Spartans have been out-rebounded during a loss. Texas and North Carolina were the only others to do so.

The Spartans (19-6) are now tied for first place in the Big Ten with Illinois, who recently beat Wisconsin. Michigan State will play at Penn State this Saturday to try and snap its three-game skid.

Michigan State lost to Illinois on Saturday night, 78-73.

Without starting point guard Kalin Lucas, the Spartans needed extra contributions from their reserves, and were largely unsuccessful in providing it.

Draymond Green led the way for the Spartans with 17 points, 16 rebounds and three assists off the bench. Korie Lucious took over role at point guard with four points and six turnovers. Michigan State ended with 18 total team turnovers while out-rebounding Illinois 34-21.

The Spartans also shot 55% from the field but Illinois countered by going 8-18 (44%) from three-point range and 53% from the field. Demetri McCamey led all scorers with 22 points and 11 assists for the Illini (16-8).

Michigan State (19-5, 9-2) now has a one game lead over Wisconsin for the top spot in the Big Ten. The Spartans will take on Purdue at home next Tuesday. Kalin Lucas is expected to play.

Kalin Lucas, starting point guard for Michigan State, is listed as day to day with a sprained ankle he suffered against Wisconsin last night.

Lucas’ availability for Saturday’s game against Illinois wont be known until Thursday at the earliest.

Michigan State lost to Wisconsin on Tuesday night, 67-49.

The Spartans struggled from the floor, shooting just 37% while going 2-9 from three-point range.

Starting point guard Kalin Lucas left the game midway through the second-half with an ankle injury.

Jason Bohannon led all scorers with 19 points for the Badgers (17-5), who managed to shoot 51% from the field. Durrell Summers led Michigan State with 11 points.

Michigan State (19-4) will play Illinois in Champaign this Saturday in prime-time, 9:00PM.