The 2005–06 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented

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

in the

2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 6, 2005, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments and concluded with the 2006 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game on April ...

. Their head coach was

Tom Izzo Thomas Michael 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 le ...

, who was in his 11th year at Michigan State. The team played its 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 pus ...

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

, and competed in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. MSU finished the season with a record of 22–12, 8–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for sixth place. As the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten tournament, they defeated Purdue and Illinois before losing to Iowa in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 6 seed in the Washington D.C. bracket, marking the school's ninth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament under Izzo. They lost in the First Round to eventual Final Four participant,

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

Previous season

The

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

finished the 2004–05 season with a record of 26–7, 13–3 in Big Ten play to finish in second place. Michigan State received a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, their eighth straight trip to the Tournament, and advanced to the Final Four, their fourth trip under Tom Izzo. The Spartans lost Alan Anderson (13.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game), Kelvin Torbert (9.5 points per game) and Chris Hill (8.8 points and 4.2 assists per game) to graduation following the season.

Season summary

The Spartans were led by seniors Paul Davis (17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game) and

Maurice Ager Maurice Darnell Ager (born February 9, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans from 2002 until 2006. Ager led the Spartans to the NCAA Final Four as a junior in 200 ...

(19.3 points per game), as well as junior

Shannon Brown Shannon Brown (born November 29, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He attended Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2003, and played college basketball for Michigan State ...

(17.2 points per game). The Spartans began the season ranked No. 4 in the country. They started by making a trip to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

to participate in the Maui Classic. Before playing in the Classic, however, they played

and were shocked, losing 84–62. After beating host Chaminade in the Maui Classic, they played No. 8

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

led by

Adam Morrison Adam John Morrison (born July 19, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. Morrison played for three years at Gonzaga University and was considered to be one of the top college basketball players in 2005–06. He was a finalist ...

in the tournament semifinals. The game was an instant classic lasting into triple overtime where the Spartans fell 109–106. In the third place game, the Spartans defeated No. 9

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. The Spartans won their remaining ten non-conference games, including a win over No. 6

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

in the Jimmy V Classic, to finish the non-conference schedule at 12–2 and ranked No. 7 in the country. The Spartans began the Big Ten season with back-to-back losses to No. 6

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. They followed those up with wins over No. 9

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, No. 19

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

in double overtime, and No. 23

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. However, Michigan State finished the conference season losing five of their last seven games. MSU finished the Big Ten regular season with a conference record of 8–8, 20–10 overall, and slipping out of the polls. In the

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

, MSU defeated

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

and No. 9 Illinois before losing to No. 20

in the semifinals. The Spartans received an at-large bid as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, their ninth consecutive trip to the Tournament. In the Tournament, they lost to eventual

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

Cinderella, No. 11-seeded

, in the First Round. Following the season, Shannon Brown declared for the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

, leaving the Spartans one year prior to graduation, just the fourth player under Izzo to declare early.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition Games , - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Player statistics

Source

Rankings

Source

Awards and honors

* Maurice Ager – All Big Ten Second Team (Media), All Big Ten Third Team (Coaches) * Paul Davis – All Big Ten Second Team * Shannon Brown – All Big Ten Second Team

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2005-06 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 team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

Michigan State Spartans men's basketball The Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team is the college basketball, intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Michigan State University. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference of NCAA Division I college basketball. The ...

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