Bleeding Green

A win's a win

The boy's eeked out a close one against Wichita St. today.

MSU Women: Tough loss on the road

The MSU Women's 6-point road loss to Notre Dame was a heartbreaker for so many reasons:

• They fought back from a 15-point deficit to come within 3 with about 27 seconds to go.
• Aisha Jefferson scored 34 points -- 34 POINTS -- and they still came up short. 
• Notre Dame freshman Kellie Watson, an Ionia grad who considered going to MSU, shot the lights out with five consecutive three-pointers in the first half, bringing to a halt what had been an exciting back-and-forth between the two teams in the first half. 
• And, while I'm not one to blame a loss on poor officiating, back-to-back technicals in the first half (one on Coach Merchant after a bad call against Keane; another on Keane 7 seconds later when a second bad call was made against the sophomore ... and she slammed her hand on the scorer's table in frustration) led to five free throws added to the Irish's total. So when you figure MSU lost by just 6 points (78-72), you have to scream a bit louder at the refs. And I did.  

Yep, we made the drive to South Bend for the game, along with what looked like about 200 other Spartan faithful. It was a great effort by the team (despite some sloppy passing -- gotta clean that up before the Big 10 season begins).

And it made us realize something else: We are SO lucky to have the Breslin Center. It's a fantastic place to go to a game. Notre Dame's Joyce Center has no elaborate scoreboard (so you don't know the players' stats unless you're tracking them), no video for "instant replays" of all those bad calls, and it generally has an older, more "gymnasium" feel to it. Nothing like a road game to appreciate what you have at home.

Next up: Another road game, 4:15 p.m. Wednesday at Georgia Tech. Let's hope they pull out this win on the road. Go Green!

That's better

The men's basketball team looked a lot sharper tonight.

Feeling down

The Spartans' two most popular teams haven't looked good recently. 

MSU Women: Big win!

So, in a game where Allyssa DeHaan had two points in the first half and Aisha Jefferson had 1, it might surprise you to learn the No. 24 MSU women went on to beat No. 23 Old Dominion by 26 points Wednesday night at the Breslin Center. But they did.

The game was the Spartans' toughest contest of the season so far, and the first five or six minutes -- with the Spartans trailing for more time than was comfortable -- caused more feelings of edginess than any game yet this season. But senior guard Mia Johnson got into a great rhythm early and, despite a scary second-half situation that looked like it resulted in another knee injury (but thankfully didn't), finished the game with 13 points -- all in the first half.

The Spartans' defense was a force to be reckoned with, holding the Lady Monarchs (and, sorry, I just don't like it when a team throws "Lady" in front of the mascot ... especially when they're already called the Monarchs) to scoreless 30-second stretches with some tight defense. In fact, Old Dominion only scored 4 points in the first eight or so minutes of the entire second half.

What is impressing you about the MSU women so far? The depth of the bench? The scoring that's spread out so equitably among the players?

UPDATE: The next game is at 2 p.m. SATURDAY, when MSU takes on Notre Dame in South Bend. Next home game isn't until Dec. 18.

Happy Thanksgiving... And go Green!

MSU Women: Two games, two wins

I'm just guessing that Suzy Merchant's hoarse voice resulted from her letting the MSU women know that their 60-52 OT win over Dartmouth, while still a win, was not a pretty one. The Spartans scored just 17 points in the second half, and Allyssa DeHaan netted only 2 points in the entire game. (Keane added a team-high 20 points for the game, but it was one of the very few bright spots.)

But going into the championship game in the TD Banknorth Classic in Vermont, facing Quinnipiac, this was an entirely different team. Jumping out to an early 16-0 lead, the Spartans played like a team serious about winning -- and serious about erasing any memory of the Dartmouth game.

The 81-48 win Sunday not only won them the tournament hardware, but it also put Allyssa DeHaan in the elite 1,000-point club. Adding 21 points to the Spartans' total, DeHaan became the 19th member of the club (doing so in just 75 career games).

Next up: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday vs. Old Dominion at the Bres, in what will be their biggest challenge of the season so far. See you there.

Penn State Predictions

Tomorrow is the biggest game for the Spartans on the football field in quite awhile.

IPFW

Anybody actually see this game?  ... if yes than you must have been there.

MSU Women: Brittney's back!

MSU's latest 85-48 win tonight over University of Detroit-Mercy boosts the team's record to 3-0 and marked the return of sophomore guard Brittney Thomas, who has been sidelined with a broken bone in her hand for every game on the schedule so far. Thomas played 12 minutes (a far cry from her usual 38 minutes per game, but a fine start) and netted her first three points of the season with a single 3-pointer.

The team played tight defense tonight -- certainly better than the Stony Brook outing Sunday -- and Aisha Jefferson led the team with 18 points. All in all, a much stronger outing tonight, which is a good thing. Because after two games on the road in Burlington, Vt., for the TD Banknorth Classic on Saturday and Sunday, the women return to the Bres Wednesday to face Old Dominion, a ranked team that will offer the Spartans their first serious contest of the season.

That game is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, at the Bres. See you there.

Dantonio: Next up Penn State -- News conference Nov. 18