Blue Adams:

Login to view embedded media
Demetrice Martin:

Login to view embedded media
Quindarius Dunnigan:

Login to view embedded media
Jordan Hall:

Login to view embedded media
Cal Haladay:

Login to view embedded media

Michigan State men’s basketball had its first official team practice of the 2024-2025 season on Monday. While it is always an exciting time for head coach Tom Izzo and the program, this year it feels a little different because of the team’s trip to Spain last month.

“The other part that’s different is we went to Spain,” Izzo said on Tuesday prior to the Spartans' second practice of the season. “Seems like we’ve been practicing forever. But the good news is I like my team. The first official day was good.”

Player progress updates, info on the upcoming trip to Northern Michigan and more:

@HuddlestonL's latest this week looks at panic versus patience

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
MSU will play at Ohio State on Thursday and at home against Rutgers on Sunday at 12 p.m.

After Michigan State's loss to Boston College, Jordan Turner and Jack Velling had some things to say.

“We gave it away, and it hurts," Turner said about the game versus Boston College. "Everybody on the team, it hurts us, but there's a 24-hour rule. After that, we get to grinding some more ... we're gonna get back to work, we're gonna focus on the next opponent."

More:

Aidan Chiles:

Login to view embedded media
Jim Michalczik:

Login to view embedded media
Keith Bhonapha:

Login to view embedded media

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball is back in action this weekend for it's final two matches of the non-conference schedule. The Spartans are slated to face Duke at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 20 before meeting North Carolina at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 22. It's the third consecutive season that MSU has squared off with ACC foes Duke and UNC.

Both matches will stream on ACC Network Extra via the ESPN+ platform. Subscription to ACC Network is required. Fans can also listen in live through MSUSpartans.com or via the Michigan State Athletics app where John Kreger will call the matches in his 20th season of MSU volleyball coverage.

ABOUT DUKE​

Duke enters Friday night's match with a 4-5 record, going 1-2 last weekend at Penn State with a victory over Princeton (3-2) and losses to No. 3-ranked Penn State (3-0) and St. John's (3-1). The Blue Devils are coached by Jolene Nagel in her 37th season (26th at Duke), whose 706 career victories rank eight among active NCAA DI head coaches.

Michigan State will take on a Duke team inside Cameron Indoor Arena that ranks No. 146 in hitting percentage (.214), No. 301 in opponent hitting percentage (.248), No. 116 in kills per set (12.81), No. 93 in assists per set (12.00), No. 189 in blocks per set (1.97) and No. 184 in digs per set (13.97).

Middle blocker Rylie Kadel ranks No. 40 nationally in hitting percentage (.400) and is No. 77 in total blocks to date with 39. All-ACC outside hitter Kerry Keefe leads the Blue Devils in points per set (3.53) and kills per set (2.94). Grace Penn's 250 assists are a team best along with her 7.58 assists per set.

Libero Mailinh Godschall leads Duke with 140 digs on 4.38 digs per set. Kadel's 1.18 blocks per set a a team high, followed by Breonna Goss at 0.73 blocks/set.

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA​

North Carolina is enjoying a 6-1 start to its season following wins over Kansas State and Lipscomb in Manhattan, Kansas last weekend. The Tar Heels lone loss coming at South Carolina on September 8. Mike Schall is in his second season leading UNC after serving in an assistant capacity for the five seasons prior.

UNC ranks among the best in the country in several statistical categories, including being No. 4 in assists per set (13.74), No. 4 in kills per set (14.61), No. 5 in opponent hitting percentage (.118) and No. 23 in blocks per set (2.74).

Outside hitter Mabrey Shaffmaster is one of the best servers in the country ranking No. 8 in aces per set (.70), recording 16 aces in 23 sets played. Shaffmaster is the sister of Minnesota setter Melani Shaffmaster and is an All-ACC first teamer. Her 4.89 points per set and 4.00 kills per set also lead the Tar Heels on .329 hitting. Safi Hampton is second in points per set (3.85) and kills per set (3.06). Zoe Behrendt (6.65 assists/set) and Taylor Eisert (4.91 assists/set) split the setting duties.

Libero Maddy May paces UNC defensively with 4.22 digs/set. Middle blockers Alexis Engelbrecht (1.33 blocks/set) and Jackie Taylor (1.17 blocks/set) each average over a block per set, while outside hitter Emani' Foster is close at 0.86 per.

SERIES HISTORY​

Duke
- Michigan State is 3-3 all-time against Duke dating back to 1997 and have faced the Blue Devils in each of the last two seasons.
- MSU has lost two-straight to Duke, falling 3-0 in 2023 and 3-2 in 2022. The Spartans are 1-1 when facing Duke on the road, lasting winning in Durham on Sept. 19, 2015 by a final score of 3-0 against a Duke team that was receiving votes.

North Carolina
- Michigan State is 6-3 against UNC all-time dating back to 1988. Like Duke, MSU has taken on North Carolina in each of the last two seasons.
- The Spartans last defeated North Carolina on Sept. 10, 2023, winning 3-1 at the Breslin Center. MSU is 2-1 when facing the Tar Heels on the road, last winning in Chapel Hill on Sept. 1, 2018 by a final score of 3-1.

ACC-B1G CHALLENGE​

• Though the ACC-B1G Challenge has not formally existed since 2022, Michigan State, Michigan, Duke and North Carolina have kept that tradition alive over the past three seasons.
• With the first matches of the series canceled in 2021 due to COVID-19, MSU, UM, Duke and UNC will have met in three consecutive seasons following this weekend.
• The Spartans lost a close five-set battle at Duke in 2022, storming back to win sets three and four to force a deciding fifth set.
• In 2023, MSU took down North Carolina, 3-1, inside the Breslin Center. Taylah Holdem took over with 21 kills on .341 hitting. while Nalani Iosia added 10 assists and 14 digs for a double-double.

In The B1G Rankings​

• Nalani Iosia is #3 in digs/set in the B1G at 4.19.
• In the last week (since Sept. 11) Iosia has posted 4.70 digs/set which still ranks #3 over 10 sets played.
• Evie Doezema ranks #7 among B1G players in hitting percentage this season hitting .417 through nine matches.
• In the last week (since Sept. 11) Doezema ranks #2 in the B1G hitting .613 on 31 attempts in eight sets played.
• Zuzanna Kulig ranks #8 in the B1G in blocks thus far at 1.30 blocks/set.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

This is premium content. Please subscribe to view.

Login to view embedded media
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Michigan State graduate goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks was named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week, as announced by the conference Tuesday.

Parks earns her first-career Big Ten weekly honor and MSU's first Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week nod since Lauren Kozal on Oct. 25, 2022. She is the second Spartan to collect a player of the week award from the conference this season, following Justina Gaynor's Defensive Player of the Week selection on Aug. 20.

The Upper Marlboro, Maryland, native helped MSU to a pair of Big Ten victories last week as the Spartans defeated Nebraska, 4-1, at home on Sept. 19 before earning a 1-0 shutout at then-No. 9 Penn State on Sept. 22. Against Nebraska, she made one save in 90 minutes in goal before stopping a career-high 11 shots against the Nittany Lions to earn her fourth clean sheet of the season. Only MSU and Georgetown have held Penn State scoreless this season in 11 games.

Parks maintains a 0.75 goals-against average this season and has made 31 total saves.

The Spartans are back in action on Thursday, Sept. 26 at Ohio State. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with streaming on B1G+.

Release courtesy of MSU Athletics.

Login to view embedded media

Made it to Tom Izzo's press conference.

The team started official team practice yesterday.

MSU will play eight of the 17 other members in the Big Ten, including hosting Washington and playing at Oregon... because that makes so much sense?

Login to view embedded media

Hoiberg last had his pacemaker replaced in 2014 after first having to get one in 2005 following his open-heart surgery.

Login to view embedded media

..and heading to New York.

Currently, she is the Michigan State University beat reporter for the Detroit News. She also worked for the San Jose Mercury News and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Personally, I don't read her stuff, and she seems to move around a bit. However, I wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors.

FWIW.

Dropping a small roundup of a few high school football game 1 scores, from across the state, that are relevant toward a couple MSU commits and/or targets:

• West Bloomfield beat Chippewa Valley, 42-0

• Frankenmuth beat Goodrich, 22-0

• Orchard Lake St Mary’s beat Portage Northern, 52-19

• Dakota beat Fordson, 38-17

• East Lansing beat Portage Central, 31-7

• Rockford beat Cass Tech, 30-23

• Saline beat Brighton, 41-20

• Birmingham Groves beat U of Detroit Jesuit, 35-14

• De La Salle beat Davison, 21-3

Prior to Saturday's game at Boston College, I said that MSU was playing with house money. I said that fans should not be too upset no matter what happened. I still feel that way.

What I expected to happen was that MSU was going to be a bit over-matched by a borderline top-25 team on the road in an emotional night game. But that is not exactly what we saw.

For large stretches of Saturday night's game, MSU was the better team. The box score proves that. To their credit, Boston College had a few explosive, game changing plays that won the game. But BC did not really beat MSU. The Spartans beat themselves.

Now, this could be taken in a couple of ways. Sometimes beating themselves is a hallmark of a bad team and a bad program. But I don't think that is what we are seeing either. As my 80s-sitcom inspired title suggests, I think that we are just experiencing the growing pains of the new era of Spartan football with a very young quarterback at the helm. There is no doubt in my mind that we are watching a much better coached team than we have seen in EL is a while. In the long run (and possibly in the short run) that is going to pay dividends.

Winning on the box score but losing on the score board is not ideal. Just ask those losers from Southern California (thanks for nothing, JERKS). But at the end of the day, I would rather have a program with a young quarterback who is making correctable mistakes than a program with a quarterback who completed seven passes for 32 yards in an entire game, just to give a random example. As a better predictor of future success, I will go with the guy in Green and White who made a couple of mistakes, even if they were costly.

Check out all my thoughts on the action from Week Four:

The turnovers finally came back to bite MSU this time, as the Spartans fell to Boston College, 23-19. Growing pains were always going to be a part of the whole process, but there is no avoiding it.

See what Smith said after the game here:

Michigan State will enter as massive underdogs against No. 3 Ohio State on Saturday, and for good reason. Things have generally gotten ugly really quickly against the Buckeyes. Another loss would mark the longest losing streak against one opponent since Michigan State joined the Big Ten.

Jonathan Smith and his team will look to find a way to gain some respect in a bounce back scenario against OSU.

Read here:

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith will talk to the media to preview the Spartans' big test against the Buckeyes. Live updates from his press conference will be posted here.

EDIT:

Video here

Login to view embedded media

The Spartans are surprising on the recruiting trail this fall according to Rivals' national recruiting analyst @Greg Smith

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media