1990–91 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1990–91 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1990–91 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Jud Heathcote in his 15th year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished the season with a record of 19–11, 11–7 to finish in third place in Big Ten play. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed in the Midwest region where they beat Green Bay on a buzzer beater by Steve Smith.^[1] In the Second Round, they lost to No. 10 Utah in double overtime, 85–84.^[2]

1990–91 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Oldsmobile Spartan Classic champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	19–11 (11–7 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (15th season)
Assistant coaches	Tom Izzo Jim Boylen Stan Joplin
Captains	Steve Smith Matt Steigenga
Home arena	Breslin Center
Seasons ← 1989–90 1991–92 →

1990–91 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Ohio State	15	–	3		.833			27	–	4		.871
No. 3 Indiana	15	–	3		.833			29	–	5		.853
Illinois	11	–	7		.611			21	–	10		.677
Michigan State	11	–	7		.611			19	–	11		.633
Iowa	9	–	9		.500			21	–	11		.656
Purdue	9	–	9		.500			17	–	12		.586
Wisconsin	8	–	10		.444			15	–	15		.500
Michigan	7	–	11		.389			14	–	15		.483
Minnesota	5	–	13		.278			12	–	16		.429
Northwestern	0	–	18		.000			5	–	23		.179
Rankings from AP Poll

The game marked the end of First Team All-American senior Steve Smith's career at Michigan State.

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1989–90 season with a record of 28–6, 15–3 to win the Big Ten Championship. Michigan State received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Southeast region. They beat Murray State and UC Santa Barbara to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they were upset by Georgia Tech in overtime.

Roster

1990–91 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
22	Jeff Casler	G	SR	6–0	0.4	0.4	0.2
45	Ron Haley	F	SO	6–6	0.4	0.0	0.2
44	Matt Hofkamp	C	FR	6–10	0.8	0.4	0.0
11	Mark Montgomery	G	JR	6–2	7.3	3.3	5.9
12	Andy Penick	G	FR	6–2	4.1	0.6	0.8
54	Mike Peplowski	C	SO	6–10	7.4	6.5	0.4
24	Shawn Respert	G	FR	6–3	0.0	0.0	0.0
21	Steve Smith	G	SR	6–7	25.2	6.0	3.7
35	Matt Steigenga	F	JR	6–7	12.8	4.9	2.2
31	Dwayne Stephens	F	SO	6–7	5.2	4.3	1.3
3	Kris Weshinskey	G	FR	6–3	2.8	1.1	0.7
25	Jon Zulauf	F	SO	6–6	1.3	1.7	0.1

Source^[3][4]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 23, 1990*	No. 4	Furman	W 78–73	1–0	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Nov 28, 1990*	No. 5	at Nebraska	L 69–71	1–1	Bob Devaney Sports Center  Lincoln, NE
Dec 1, 1990*	No. 5	at Bowling Green State	L 85–98	1–2	Anderson Arena  Bowling Green, OH
Dec 8, 1990*	No. 19	at Detroit	W 83–61	2–2	Calihan Hall  Detroit, MI
Dec 13, 1990*	No. 21	at Cincinnati	W 83–74	3–2	Fifth Third Arena  Cincinnati, OH
Dec 15, 1990*	No. 21	vs. No. 1 UNLV	L 75–95	3–3	The Palace of Auburn Hills  Auburn Hills, MI
Dec 18, 1990*	No. 24	Evansville	W 81–76	4–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1990*	No. 24	Central Michigan	W 74–61	5–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 28, 1990*	No. 25	George Mason Oldsmobile Spartan Classic semifinals	W 97–72	6–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 1990*	No. 25	Louisiana Tech Oldsmobile Spartan Classic championship	W 77–62	7–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Big Ten regular season
Jan 3, 1991	No. 25	Michigan Rivalry	W 85–70	8–3 (1–0)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 5, 1991	No. 25	at No. 22 Iowa	L 66–79	8–4 (1–1)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
Jan 10, 1991		Wisconsin	W 65–50	9–4 (2–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 12, 1991		Northwestern	W 66–59	10–4 (3–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 17, 1991		at Illinois	W 71–68	11–4 (4–1)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Jan 19, 1991		Minnesota	W 73–64	12–4 (5–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 23, 1991		at Purdue	L 51–62	12–5 (5–2)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Jan 26, 1991	No. 22	at No. 3 Indiana	L 63–97	12–6 (5–3)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Jan 31, 1992		No. 3 Ohio State	W 75–61	13–6 (6–3)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 7, 1991	No. 25	Iowa	L 67–71	13–7 (6–4)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 9, 1991	No. 25	at Wisconsin	L 78–84	13–8 (6–5)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Feb 14, 1991		at Northwestern	W 55–53	14–8 (7–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Feb 16, 1991		Illinois	W 62–58	15–8 (8–5)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 23, 1991		Purdue	W 75–58	16–8 (9–5)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 25, 1991		at Minnesota	W 74–72	17–8 (10–5)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Mar 3, 1991		No. 5 Indiana	L 56–62	17–9 (10–6)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Mar 3, 1991		at No. 2 Ohio State	L 64–65	17–10 (10–7)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Mar 9, 1991		at Michigan Rivalry	W 66–59	18–10 (11–7)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament
Mar 15, 1991*	(5 W)	vs. (12 W) Green Bay First Round	W 60–58	19–10	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Mar 17, 1991*	(5 W)	vs. (4 W) No. 10 Utah Second Round	L 84–85 ^2OT	19–11	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source^[5].

Rankings

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked.

Poll	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17
AP	4	5	19	21	24	25	25	NR	NR	22	NR	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Source.^[6]

Awards and honors

• Steve Smith – All-Big Ten First Team

References

1. WOJCIECHOWSKI, GENE (March 16, 1991). "COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : WEST REGIONAL AT TUCSON : Michigan State Escapes Upset". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
2. WOJCIECHOWSKI, GENE (March 18, 1991). "COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN'S TOURNAMENT : No. 10 Utah Works Overtime on Its Image : West: Utes get 29 points from Grant to beat Michigan State, 85-84, in two extra periods and advance to play Nevada Las Vegas". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
3. "1990-91 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".
4. (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2018.
5. "1990-91 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".
6. "1993 Michigan State Spartans". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 20, 2016.