The 1989–90 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the

1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1989 and ended with the Final Four at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado on April 2, 1990. The UNLV Runnin' Rebels won their first NCAA national championship with a ...

. The team played their home games at newly-opened

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 members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. They were coached by

Jud Heathcote George Melvin "Jud" Heathcote (May 27, 1927 – August 28, 2017) was an American basketball player and coach. He was a college basketball head coach for 24 seasons: five at the University of Montana and nineteen at Michigan State University H ...

in his 14th year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished the season with a record of 28–6, 15–3 to win the Big Ten championship by two games. As the No. 3-ranked team in the country, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Southeast region. In the first round, they narrowly avoided becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose a No. 16 seed, beating

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

in overtime. They then defeated

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

in the second round to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, their first trip since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

. There they lost in overtime to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. Ken Redfield was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

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 1988–89 season 18–15, 6–12 to finish in eighth place in Big Ten play. Michigan State received a bid to the National Invitation Tournament. There the Spartans beat Kent State,

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

, and Villanova to reach the final four at Madison Square Garden. In the semifinals, they lost to Saint Louis before losing to UAB in the third-place game.

Season summary

The Spartans were led by junior

Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

(20.2 points and 7.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game), senior Kirk Manns (15.5 points per game), and Ken Redfield (11.6 points per game). The team also featured sophomore Mark Montgomery and freshman

Dwayne Stephens Dwayne Stephens is an American basketball coach who is currently the men's head coach for the Western Michigan Broncos. Previously, he was an assistant and associate head coach at Michigan State for 19 years. Playing career Stephens played basket ...

who would both later become assistant coaches at Michigan State under

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 ...

. MSU began their season by traveling to Alaska to participate in the

Great Alaska Shootout The ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout is an annual women's college basketball tournament in Anchorage, Alaska that features host University of Alaska Anchorage and three visiting NCAA Div. I teams. The four-team tournament is resuming ...

. There, they defeated Auburn,

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, and

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

to capture the Shootout championship. They suffered their first loss of the season at UIC after being ranked for the first time that season. Two games later, the Spartans lost at Breslin Center to

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. They finished their non-conference schedule with an 11–2 record. Michigan State started the Big Ten season 3–0 before losing to No. 7

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 ...

on the road. In a four-game stretch against ranked teams, the Spartans defeated No. 12

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 ...

in Bloomington, but lost to rival No. 7

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

at home. A loss to No. 19

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 ...

preceded a win over No. 8 Purdue and left the Spartans at 6–3 in the Big Ten. Following the victory over Purdue, MSU entered the AP rankings at No. 23. The Spartans won their remaining nine games to finish the season on a 10-game winning streak. The streak included wins over No. 15 Illinois, No. 25 Indiana, No. 8 Michigan, No. 17 Minnesota, and No. 10 Purdue in a six-game stretch. The finish gave the Spartans the Big Ten championship by two games over Purdue with a 15–3 record and they finished the season ranked No. 3 in the country. The Spartans received the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed. In the Tournament, the Spartans narrowly defeated 16th-seeded Murray State, led by

Popeye Jones Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones (born June 17, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). College career Born in Dresde ...

, in overtime to avoid becoming the only No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed. They again narrowly defeated ninth-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the second round by four points to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1986. In the Sweet Sixteen, the Spartans 12-game winning streak came to end as they lost to fourth-seeded Georgia Tech. The game featured a controversial last second basket by Tech's Kenny Anderson to force overtime where the Spartans fell 80–81.

Roster and statistics

Source

Schedule and results

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Rankings

Source.

Awards and honors

* Steve Smith – All-Big Ten First Team

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1989-90 Michigan State Spartans Men's Basketball Team Michigan State Spartans men's basketball 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 ...

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