The 1998–99 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the

1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1998–99 NCAA Division I men's basketball season concluded in the 64-team 1999 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament whose finals were held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Connecticut Huskies earned their first nat ...

. The team played their home games at

Breslin Center The Jack Breslin Student Events Center is a multi-purpose arena at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. The arena opened in 1989, and is named for Jack Breslin, MSU alumnus, former athlete and administrator, who first began p ...

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

and were coached by fourth-year head coach,

Tom Izzo Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has led the Spart ...

. The Spartans finished the season 33–5, 15–1 to win the Big Ten regular season championship by three games. MSU defeated Northwestern,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

to win the Big Ten tournament and received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region, they defeated Mount Saint Mary's and Ole Miss to advance to their second straight Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen they defeated Oklahoma to advance to the school's first Elite Eight since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. In the Elite Eight, they defeated

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

to earn a trip to the Final Four for the first time since 1979. There they lost No. 1-ranked

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. The 33 wins marked a school record for wins in a season.

Previous season

The

Spartans Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...

finished the 1997–98 season 22–8, 13–3 in Big Ten play to earn a share of the Big Ten regular season championship. They lost in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Big Ten tournament to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Michigan State received an at-large bid as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, their first trip to the Tournament under Tom Izzo. They defeated

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to No. 1-seeded

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Season summary

The Spartans, fresh off their first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, started the season ranked No. 5 in the country. Michigan State was led by juniors

Mateen Cleaves Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977) is a retired American basketball player. He played parts of six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Michigan State, where he led the Sparta ...

(11.7 points and 7.2 assists per game) and

Morris Peterson Morris Russell Peterson Jr. (born August 26, 1977) is an American retired professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Michigan State University, where in ...

(13.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game). The Spartans played three top seven teams in their first seven games. MSU lost all three: at No. 7

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

, versus No. 4 Duke at the

United Center United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is named ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and at No. 1

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. However, the Spartans finished the non–conference season without another loss and a record of 11–3 while ranked No. 14 in the country. After losing their first Big Ten game to No. 24

, the Spartans won the remaining 15 games in conference. The wins included wins against No. 19

, No. 14

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, at No. 18

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, No. 15

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, at No. 14 Iowa, at No. 22 Minnesota, No. 17 Purdue, No. 14 Wisconsin, and at No. 23 Purdue. The Spartans won the Big Ten conference regular season by three games with a record of 15–1. MSU finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the country. (Ohio State, who finished in second place with a 12–4 record, was later forced to vacate 29 games including all conference wins.) The Spartans earned the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament and faced Northwestern in the quarterfinals. MSU struggled in the game and appeared to be headed toward a second-straight early exit from only the second-ever Big Ten tournament, but Matteen Cleaves hit a clutch shot with 37 second remaining to give MSU a two-point win. In the semifinals, MSU faced No. 19 Wisconsin, the only team that had beaten MSU in the regular season. The Spartans held Wisconsin scoreless for nearly 11 minutes in the second half on their way to 56–41 win. The win propelled the Spartans to the championship game against Cinderalla

, who had finished last in conference, but had made a run to the championship game. With MSU looking to lock up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Illinois looking to simply make the Tournament with a win, the Spartans blew out the Illini 67–50 to win their first Big Ten tournament championship. The win gave the Spartans the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Spartans were awarded a No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. In a First Round victory over Mount St. Mary's, MSU used tough defense to hold off the Mountaineers, 76–53. In the Second Round, the Spartans faced No. 9-seeded

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Michigan State used a late 13–0 run to hold off the upset and defeat the Rebels, 73–66. Cleaves led the Spartans with 18 points as they advanced to their second straight Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, No. 13-seeded Oklahoma pushed the Spartans and MSU struggled offensively. However, Andre Hutson's 13 points led the Spartans to hard-fought 54–46 win, their 21st straight win. In the Elite Eight for the first time since winning the championship since 1979, MSU faced No. 3-seeded and No. 8-ranked

. Michigan State trailed by as many 13 points early in the contest, but they fought back to beat Kentucky 73–66 to advance to the Final Four. There, they were re-matched against the overall No. 1 seed, Duke, who had defeated them 73–67 early in the season. With the Spartans riding a 22-game winning streak, Duke was able to beat the Spartans 68–62, ending their season.

Roster and statistics

Schedule and results

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Rankings

Awards and honors

*Mateen Cleaves – All-America selection *Mateen Cleaves – Big Ten Player of the Year *Mateen Cleaves – All-Big Ten First Team *Mateen Cleaves –

Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball The Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball was an award presented annually by the ''Chicago Tribune'' to the top men's and women's college basketball player of the Big Ten Conference. The ''Chicago Tribune'' awarded the Silver Basketball for men's basket ...

*Mateen Cleaves – Most Outstanding Player, Big Ten Conference Basketball Tournament *Morris Peterson – All-Big Ten First Team *Antonio Smith – All-Big Ten Third Team

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998-99 Michigan State Spartans Men's Basketball Team Michigan State Spartans men's basketball seasons

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

Big Ten men's basketball tournament championship seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Michigan State Spartans men's b Michigan State Spartans men's b