2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were coached by Tom Izzo in his seventh season. The Spartans played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. MSU finished the regular season 19–12, 10–6 to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Big Ten. The Spartans received a bid to the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive year where they lost in the First Round to NC State.

2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Coca-Cola Spartan Classic champion
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	19–12 (10–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Tom Izzo (7th season)
Associate head coach	Brian Gregory (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Mike Garland (6th season) Mark Montgomery (1st season)
Captains	Aloysius Anagonye Adam Ballinger Marcus Taylor
Home arena	Breslin Center
Seasons ← 2000–01 2002–03 →

2001–02 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 13 Illinois	11	–	5		.688			26	–	9		.743
Indiana	11	–	5		.688			25	–	12		.676
Wisconsin	11	–	5		.688			19	–	13		.594
Michigan State	10	–	6		.625			19	–	12		.613
Minnesota	9	–	7		.563			18	–	13		.581
Northwestern	7	–	9		.438			16	–	13		.552
Iowa	5	–	11		.313			19	–	16		.543
Purdue	5	–	11		.313			13	–	18		.419
Michigan	5	–	11		.313			11	–	18		.379
Penn State	3	–	13		.188			7	–	21		.250
No. 14 Ohio State*†	0	–	0		–			0	–	0		–
† 2002 Big Ten tournament winner Rankings from AP poll *Ohio State: 30 reg. season games; 2 NCAA Tourn. games vacated due to sanctions against the program Disputed record: Ohio State-(24-8)(11-5)

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 2000–01 season 28–5, 13–3 in Big Ten play to finish in second place. Michigan State received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, their fourth straight trip to the Tournament, and advanced the Final Four, their third straight trip under Tom Izzo.

The Spartans lost Charlie Bell (13.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.1 APG) to graduation and freshman Zach Randolph (10.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.0 APG) and sophomore Jason Richardson (14.7 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.2 APG) to the NBA draft following the season.

Season summary

After three consecutive years of trips to the Final Four, the Spartans began the season ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll. Michigan State was led by sophomore Marcus Taylor (16.8 points and 5.3 assists per game), freshman Chris Hill (11.5 points per game), and junior Adam Ballinger (11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game). The Spartans participated in the Preseason NIT where they defeated Detroit Mercy^[1] and No. 24 Oklahoma^[2] at Breslin Center, but then fell to No. 18 Syracuse^[3] and No. 23 Fresno State at Madison Square Garden.^[4] The Spartans also suffered non-conference losses to No. 6 Florida^[5] and No. 16 Stanford,^[6] but did beat No. 6 Arizona in a rematch of their Final Four clash the previous Spring.^[7] MSU finished the non-conference season at 9–4 and ranked No. 19 in the country.

In Big Ten play, MSU started the season with three straight losses, the last to Wisconsin, which snapped MSU's 53-game home winning streak.^[8][9] The Spartans did defeat No. 12 Illinois,^[10] No. 18 Ohio State at home^[11] and on the road,^[12] and No. 23 Indiana.^[13] Michigan State finished the conference schedule at 10–6 and in fourth place with an overall record of 19–10. The Spartans slipped out of the ranking following their opening conference losses and remained unranked the remainder of the season. MSU lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament to No. 23 Indiana marking the first time since 1997 that Michigan State did not win either the Big Ten regular season or tournament title.^[14]

The Spartans received an at-large bid as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, their fifth consecutive trip. The Spartans were eliminated in the First Round by NC State.^[15]

Following the season, sophomore Marcus Taylor declared for the NBA draft.

Roster

2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
Name	Class	Pos	Height	Summary
Aaron Alexander	SO			0.3 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Aloysius Anagonye	SO	F	6'8"	7.7 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Alan Anderson	FR	F	6'6"	6.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 1.6 Ast
Jason Andreas	SO	C	6'10"	2.6 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Adam Ballinger	JR	F	6'9"	11.2 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 1.1 Ast
Tim Bograkos	FR	G	6'2"	1.4 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Chris Hill	FR	G	6'3"	11.5 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast
Mat Ishbia	SR	G	5'10"	1.1 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Marcus Taylor	SO	G	6'3"	16.8 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 5.3 Ast
Kelvin Torbert	FR	G	6'4"	8.2 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 1.5 Ast
Brian Westrick	JR	F	6'5"	0.8 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Adam Wolfe	FR	F	6'9"	1.7 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 0.1 Ast
Source^[16]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Exhibition
Nov 2, 2001*		Magic Johnson All-Stars	W 89–87		Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Nov 18, 2001*		Midwest All-Stars	W 72–62 ^OT		Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Non-conference regular season
Nov 12, 2001* , ESPN2	No. 15	Detroit Preseason NIT	W 80–70	1–0	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Nov 14, 2001*	No. 15	No. 24 Oklahoma Preseason NIT	W 67–55	2–0	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Nov 21, 2001*	No. 13	vs. No. 18 Syracuse Preseason NIT semifinals	L 58–69	2–1	Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
Nov 23, 2001*	No. 13	vs. No. 21 Fresno State Preseason NIT third place game	L 58–63	2–2	Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
Nov 28, 2001*	No. 22	vs. No. 9 Virginia Canceled because of wet floor and unplayable conditions ^[17] ACC–Big Ten Challenge			Richmond Coliseum  Richmond, VA
Nov 30, 2001*	No. 22	IPFW Coca Cola Spartan Classic	W 81–68	3–2	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 1, 2001*	No. 22	Lamar Coca Cola Spartan Classic championship	W 80–71	4–2	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 5, 2001*	No. 24	at No. 4 Florida	L 70–74	4–3	O'Connell Center  Gainesville, FL
Dec 9, 2001*	No. 24	Nicholls State	W 92–38	5–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 15, 2001* , CBS	No. 23	No. 6 Arizona	W 74–60	6–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 17, 2001*	No. 17	UNC Asheville	W 76-56	7–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 19, 2001*	No. 17	Oakland	W 78–50	8–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing
Dec 22, 2001*	No. 17	Seton Hall	W 68–64	9–3	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 2001*	No. 13	vs. No. 16 Stanford Pete Newell Challenge	L 64–75	9–4	The Arena in Oakland  Oakland, CA
Big Ten regular season
Jan 5, 2002	No. 19	at Minnesota	L 67–70	9–5 (0–1)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Jan 8, 2002	No. 25	at Indiana	L 65–83	9–6 (0–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Jan 12, 2002	No. 25	Wisconsin	L 63–64	9-7 (0–3)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 16, 2002		Purdue	W 65–56	10–7 (1–3)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 19, 2002		at Penn State	W 77–65	11–7 (2–3)	Bryce Jordan Center  State College, PA
Jan 22, 2002		at Uowa	L 71–75	11–8 (2–4)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
Jan 30, 2002		Michigan Rivalry	W 71–44	12–8 (3–4)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 3, 2002 , CBS		at No. 12 Illinois	W 67–61	13–8 (4–4)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 6, 2002		at Northwestern	L 49–61	13–9 (4–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Feb 10, 2002 , CBS		Ohio State	W 67–64	14–9 (5–5)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 12, 2002		Illinois	L 61–63	14–10 (5–6)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 16, 2002		at Purdue	W 62–59	15–10 (6–6)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 21, 200		Minnesota	W 74–55	16–10 (7–6)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 24, 2002 , CBS		No. 23 Indiana	W 57–54	17–10 (8–6)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 26, 2002		at No. 18 Ohio State	W 81–76	18–10 (9–6)	Value City Arena  Columbus, OH
Mar 2, 2002		Iowa	W 93–79	19–10 (10–6)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Big Ten tournament
Mar 8, 2002 , ESPN2	(5)	vs. (4) Indiana quarterfinals	L 56–67	19–11 (10–6)	Conseco Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
NCAA tournament
Mar 15, 2002* , CBS	(10 E)	vs. (7 E) NC State First Round	L 58–69	19–12	MCI Center  Washington, DC
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time^[18]^[19].

Rankings

See also: 2001-02 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
AP	15	13	22	24	23	17	13	19	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Awards and honors

• Marcus Taylor – All-Big Ten First Team^[20]
• Marcus Taylor – USBWA All-District Team^[21]
• Adam Ballinger – All-Big Ten Third Team (Media)^[20]

References

1. "Men's Basketball Defeats Detroit in Season Opener, 80-70 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
2. "Spartans Stop No. 25 Oklahoma, 67-55 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
3. "Men's Hoops Drops One To No. 18 Syracuse, 69-58 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
4. "Spartans Drop Second Straight - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
5. "Spartan Rally Falls Short Against No. 6 Florida, 74-70 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
6. "No. 13 Men's Hoops Downed By No. 16 Stanford, 75-64 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
7. "Michigan State Keeps Arizona In Check, 74-60". ArizonaWildcats.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
8. "Badgers End MSU's Home Win Streak". University of Wisconsin. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
9. . www.msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
10. "Spartans Sink No. 12 Illinois, 67-61 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
11. "Spartans Beat No. 16 Buckeyes, 67-64 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
12. "Spartans Rally To Beat Buckeyes, 81-76 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
13. "Spartans Take Down No. 23 Indiana, 57-54 - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
14. . www.msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
15. . Wolfpack rally to dispatch Michigan State. Archived from the original on January 11, 2004. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
16. "2002 Michigan State Spartans". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
17. "Virginia-Michigan State Called Because of Wet Floor". November 28, 2001.
18. "2001-02 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".
19. . Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
20. "Marcus Taylor Named First-Team All-Big Ten; Ballinger Also Honored - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
21. "Taylor Selected To USBWA All-District Team - Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved February 9, 2016.