Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
The Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Michigan State University. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference of NCAA Division I college basketball. The Spartans have won two NCAA National championships, 17 Big Ten Regular Season Championships, and 6 Big Ten Tournament Championships. Their home games are played at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, Michigan. Tom Izzo has been the head coach since 1995.
Their two national championships came in the 1979 NCAA tournament and the 2000 NCAA tournament. The 1979 national championship game was the most watched college basketball game in history, with 35.11 million television viewers. The 1979 National Championship team was coached by Jud Heathcote and included tournament MVP Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser, and Jay Vincent. The Spartans defeated the previously unbeaten Indiana State, led by future Hall of Famer Larry Bird. The 2000 National Championship team defeated Florida in the final. The team was coached by Tom Izzo and led by players Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, Jason Richardson, and tournament MVP Mateen Cleaves.
The Spartans have participated in 38 NCAA tournaments and appeared in 27 consecutive NCAA tournaments, the second-longest streak ever and the longest active streak in college basketball. Michigan State has the sixth most all-time Final Four appearances with 10. The program is also ninth all-time in NCAA tournament winning percentage. Michigan State also has 15 NCAA Elite Eights, and 22 NCAA Sweet Sixteens.
On February 15, 2025, Izzo set the record for most wins by a coach in Big Ten conference play with 354. On March 5, 2025, Izzo moved into a three way tie with Ward Lambert and Bob Knight for the most Big Ten regular season championships, each with 11 championship teams.
Team history
1898–1954: early years
The first established coach for Michigan Agricultural College, Charles Bemies was also the first athletic director in school history, while also coaching the football, baseball, and track teams. His two-year stint as basketball head coach ended in 1901. MAC's second basketball coach was George Denman. Denman is the only basketball coach to go undefeated during his tenure, posting an 11–0 mark during his two seasons. His team still holds the record for largest margin of victory with a 102–3 defeat of Alma College in 1902. MAC's first full-time athletic director and one of the Spartan's most successful coaches, Chester Brewer led the football, basketball, and baseball squads to winning records. He holds the highest winning percentage of any Spartan basketball coach with at least four seasons at.736. His team also defeated Michigan in the schools’ first meeting in 1909. George Gauthier was the first alumnus to lead a Michigan State basketball squad. He compiled a career record of 41–38 over four seasons. Gauthier left after 29 games in 1919– 20, posting a 15–14 record. Lyman Frimodig coached the final seven games of the season, going 6–1. He would also serve as head coach for the next two seasons. He remained active in the athletic department after his stint as basketball coach, serving Michigan State for 41 years as assistant athletic director and business manager.Benjamin Van Alstyne coached MSU for 22 years from 1926 to 1949. He is third in career victories with 231. Van Alstyne coached MSU's first All-American, Roger Grove, in 1930. Some of his greatest victories included a 27–26 victory over Michigan in 1930 at the dedication of Demonstration Hall, and a 66–50 upset over Kentucky in 1945 that was named “Coca-Cola Upset of the Week.” His 47–45 loss to Kentucky in 1948 set the record for the largest crowd in Jenison Field House history.
In one season under Alton Kircher, the Spartans finished 4–18. Following the conclusion of the 1950 season, the Spartans joined the Big Ten Conference.
Pete Newell was hired from San Francisco following a successful four years with the Dons where he went 70–37 and won the 1949 NIT. His 1951–52 squad was the first ranked Spartan team and also registered a win over No. 14 Notre Dame, the first win over a ranked opponent in school history. One of his biggest wins was a 1952 defeat of No. 2-ranked Kansas State. After four seasons, California hired Newell as its head coach and MSU had to search for another coach. Newell is often considered to be one of the most influential figures in the history of basketball.
1954–1965: Forrest "Forddy" Anderson era
was hired away from Bradley following a trip to the 1954 Final Four with the Braves. His Bradley team had also made it to the 1950 championship game.Two years after taking over the Spartans, in 1957, he led MSU to its first Big Ten Championship. After opening the season with a 4–7 record, the Spartans won 10 in a row and 12-of-13 to capture their first league title and advance to the school's first NCAA tournament. A bye in the first round of the tournament preceded wins over Notre Dame and Kentucky to earn a trip to the Final Four. A loss to North Carolina in the Final Four left MSU in the national third-place game where they lost to San Francisco.
Two years later, led by All-American Johnny Green, the Spartans cruised to a Big Ten Championship, winning the league by four games. A win over Marquette in the 1959 NCAA tournament put MSU in the Mideast regional finals against Kentucky. The Spartans lost and fell one game short of another trip to the Final Four.
Following his initial successes in East Lansing, his Spartan teams only finished with a winning record one time after 1959. He was fired following the 1964–65 season.
1965–1976: post-Anderson era
, who had been an assistant to Anderson at Bradley before joining his staff at MSU, took over as head coach and led MSU to a second-place Big Ten finish in his first season at the helm. The next season, he led the Spartans to a shared Big Ten title, but Indiana received the NCAA tournament bid. After four seasons leading the Spartans, he died of a heart attack after jogging at Jenison Fieldhouse in the summer of 1969 at the age of 47.Gus Ganakas was an assistant under Benington and was hired to take over following Benington's death. His most successful seasons were in 1973–74 with a fourth-place Big Ten finish and 1974–75 with a 17–9 overall record. In 1975, 10 black members of his team walked out before a game against Indiana for what was perceived at the time as a racial disagreement over starting a white player. Ganakas was fired in 1976, but he continued to be a part of the Michigan State Athletics Department, serving as an assistant A.D. and then as an aide to coach Tom Izzo from 1998 to 2000. He was an MSU basketball radio announcer until 2017. He died in 2019.
1976–1995: Jud Heathcote era
was hired to take over as coach in 1976 from Montana by athletic director Joseph Kearney in May 1976, after coaching the Grizzlies for five years. Heathcote had led the Grizzlies to two Big Sky championships and the 1975 NCAA tournament, the Grizzlies first ever trip to the tournament. He finished his tenure at Montana with an 80–53 record.As a virtual unknown, Heathcote came to East Lansing looking to return MSU to greatness. In his second year, he landed one of the game's all-time greats, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, from nearby Lansing Everett High School, as a recruit. The 1977–78 Spartans won the Big Ten title, their first since 1967, and qualified for the NCAA tournament for only the third time in school history. They advanced to the Elite Eight and were led by Johnson and Greg Kelser. In 1979, the duo led the Spartans to a second consecutive Big Ten title and the NCAA National Championship. The NCAA championship marked the school's first in basketball.
Following the championship, Johnson left school to join the NBA and Kelser graduated. The result was a ninth place finish in the Big Ten the next year and struggles thereafter. MSU returned to postseason play in 1983, finishing with a 17–13 record and receiving an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament.
Following the expansion of the NCAA tournament to 64 teams in 1985, Heathcote returned the Spartans, led by the future MSU all-time scoring leader, Scott Skiles, to the tournament with a fifth-place finish in the Big Ten. MSU again reached the NCAA tournament the following year after finishing third in the Big Ten with a 23–8 record. Led by Skiles and Darryl Johnson, they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing.
Heathcote returned MSU to postseason play in 1989, led by Steve Smith, losing the third-place game of the NIT. Smith returned the Spartans to the NCAA tournament in 1990 as a No. 1 seed. The Spartans narrowly avoided losing to No. 16-seeded Murray State, needing overtime to advance to the second round. They again narrowly advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to Georgia Tech in overtime. The Spartans also made an appearance in the 1991 NCAA tournament. The Spartans finished in third place in Big Ten play and received an at-large bid as a No. 5 seed to the tournament where they beat Green Bay on a buzzer beater by Smith. In the second round, they lost to No. 10 Utah in double overtime.
The Spartans made their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament in 1992. Another third-place finish in Big Ten play resulted in an at-large bid as a No. 5 seed to the NCAA tournament. There they beat Missouri State before losing to Cincinnati in the second round in a rematch of an earlier Spartan win.
A trip to the NIT in 1993 broke the NCAA tournament streak, but Heathcote again led MSU to the NCAA tournament in 1994. A fourth-place finish the Big Ten led to an at-large bid to the Tournament as a No. 7 seed. Led by Shawn Respert, they beat Seton Hall in the first round before losing to second-seeded Duke in the second round.
In his final year at MSU in 1995, Heathcote returned the Spartans to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in six years. A second-place finish in Big Ten play resulted in an at-large bid to the Tournament as a No. 3 seed where they were surprised by No. 14-seeded Weber State in the first round. The game marked the final game of All-American Shawn Respert's career at MSU.
Heathcote stepped down in 1995 after 19 seasons at Michigan State. He finished with nine NCAA appearances, three Big Ten championships, and three NIT appearances. He hand-picked his successor, Tom Izzo. "I had to orchestrate the hiring of Tom through Bob Weiss and Joel Ferguson and the president because most people wanted to open it up and see who would apply. And then some wanted a black coach," Heathcote said in 2014. "But I felt Tom deserved the job because he'd been there 12 years, and he'd gotten better in the job every single year. Tom was a tireless worker and had a passion for the game. So that combination, in my mind, I knew he was going to be a good coach."
In 2001, the National Association of Basketball Coaches awarded Heathcote with the Golden Anniversary Award for 50 years of service to college basketball. Also, in 2001, he was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2009, Heathcote was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.