1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Lobo Invitational champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	10–14 (4–10 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gus Ganakas (2nd season);
Assistant coaches	Robert Nordmann; Matthew Aitch;
Captain	Rudy Benjamin
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1969–70 1971–72 →

1970–71 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 10 Ohio State	13	–	1	.929	20	–	6	.769
Michigan	12	–	2	.857	19	–	7	.731
Purdue	11	–	3	.786	18	–	7	.720
Indiana	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	5	–	9	.357	11	–	12	.478
Minnesota	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Michigan State	4	–	10	.286	10	–	14	.417
Iowa	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Wisconsin	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	7	–	17	.292

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1970–71 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as members of the Big Ten Conference. They played their home games at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Michigan and were coached by Gus Ganakas in his second year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 10–14, 4–10 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place.

Previous season[edit]

The Spartans finished the 1969–70 season 9–15, 5–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Roster and statistics[edit]

1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
10	Brad VanPelt	F	SO	6–5	4.5	2.9
11	Gary Ganakas	G	SO	5–5	2.1	0.9
13	Gary Przybylo	G	JR	6–0	0.3	–
14	Johnnie Brown	G	JR	6–1	0.6	–
21	Rudy Benjamin	G	SR	6–2	21.7	4.0
22	Bill Kilgore	C	SO	6–7	14.2	12.9
24	Ron Gutkowski	F	JR	6–6	7.3	3.5
25	Larry Ike	F	SO	6–3	0.6	–
31	Eddie Humphrey	G	SR	6–2	2.0	–
32	Jeff VanderLende	F	SO	6–7	3.2	2.9
33	Paul Dean	F	SR	6–1	4.6	2.0
35	Pat Miller	G	JR	6–2	11.3	5.2
42	Brian Breslin	F	SO	6–5	7.8	4.0
43	Jim Shereda	C	SO	6–7	1.3	–
45	William Cohrs	C	JR	6–6	1.3	0.7

Source^[1]^[2]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1970*	Northern Illinois	L 75–76	0–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 5, 1970*	at Toledo	W 72–62	1–1	The Field House Toledo, OH
Dec 12, 1970*	Western Michigan	W 97–85	2–1	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1970*	Butler	W 99–75	3–1	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 18, 1970*	at New Mexico Lobo Invitational semifinals	W 73–69	4–1	The Pit/Bob King Court Albuquerque, NM
Dec 19, 1970*	vs. Rutgers Lobo Invitational championship	W 81–71	5–1	The Pit/Bob King Court Albuquerque, NM
Dec 22, 1970*	Central Michigan	W 85–74	6–1	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 1970*	at No. 4 USC Trojan Invitational semifinals	L 63–88	6–2	Los Angeles Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA
Dec 30, 1970*	vs. No. 10 Tennessee Trojan Invitational third place game	L 70–81	6–3	Los Angeles Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA
Jan 9, 1971	at Illinois	L 69–89	6–4 (0–1)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Jan 12, 1971	Iowa	W 84–81	7–4 (1–1)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 16, 1971	Illinois	L 67–69	7–5 (1–2)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 26, 1971*	at No. 7 Notre Dame	L 80–104	7–6	Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center South Bend, IN
Jan 30, 1971	at Ohio State	W 82–70	8–6 (2–2)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Feb 6, 1971	Ohio State	L 76–87	8–7 (2–3)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 9, 1971	Indiana	L 70–71	8–8 (2–4)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 13, 1971	at Minnesota	L 86–97	8–9 (2–5)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Feb 16, 1971	at Indiana	L 76–90	8–10 (2–6)	Gladstein Fieldhouse Bloomington, IN
Feb 20, 1971	Wisconsin	W 97–78	9–10 (3–6)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 27, 1971	at Purdue	L 70–100	9–11 (3–7)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Mar 2, 1971	Purdue	L 60–65	9–12 (3–8)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 6, 1971	at Michigan	L 63–88	9–13 (3–9)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Mar 9, 1971	Minnesota	W 73–71	10–13 (4–9)	Jennison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 13, 1971	at Northwestern	L 67–85	10–14 (4–10)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source^[3]^[2]

References[edit]

^ "1970-71 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.
^ "1970-71 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1] "1970-71 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

[MG-2] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2017.

[3] "1970-71 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

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[2]

[3]

v t e Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Venues	Armory (1899–1918) IM Circle (1918–1930) Demonstration Hall (1930–1940) Jenison Fieldhouse (1940–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic "The Flintstones" Izzone Michigan State University student riots
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024-25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics