1976–77 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1976–77 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1976–77 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 Jud Heathcote in his first year as head coach of the Spartans. MSU finished the season 10–17, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place.

1976–77 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
1976–77 record12–15 (9–9 Big Ten)
Head coachJud Heathcote (1st season)
Assistant coaches
CaptainRobert Chapman
Home arenaJenison Fieldhouse
1976–77 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 1 Michigan162 .889  264  .867
Purdue144 .778  208  .714
Iowa126 .667  207  .741
Indiana117 .611  1611  .593
Michigan State99 .500  1215  .444
Illinois810 .444  1614  .533
Wisconsin711 .389  1116  .407
Northwestern711 .389  918  .333
Ohio State612 .333  1116  .407
No. 13 Minnesota*018 .000  027  .000
Rankings from AP Poll
*Minnesota forfeited all games due to NCAA sanctions.
Disputed record (15–3, 24–3)

Due to forfeits related to NCAA sanctions to Minnesota for improper selling of tickets,[1] MSU's official record for the season is 12–15, 9–9.

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1975–76 season 14–13, 10–8 in Big Ten play to finish in fourth place. The season marked the last season for Gus Ganakas as Spartan head coach.

Roster and statistics

1976–77 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No Name Pos Year Height Pts Reb Ast
12 Terry Donnelly G FR 6–2 7.9 1.9
15 Ron Charles F FR 6–7 2.5 1.9
21 Donald Flowers G JR 6–1 0.0 0.0
22 Nate Phillips G JR 6–4 0.7 0.7
23 Kevin Vandenbussche G SR 6–4 0.4 0.8
24 Herbert Drayton G SR 6–4 0.3 0.3
25 Alfred Brown F SO 6–6 1.3 1.6
32 Greg Kelser F SO 6–5 21.7 10.8
33 Edgar Wilson F SR 6–5 9.2 4.7
34 Ricky Nash F JR 6–4 0.0 0.4
41 Dan Riewald F SR 6–5 0.2 0.7
42 Tanya Webb C SO 6–7 3.9 3.1
44 Robert Chapman G SR 6–2 5.9 3.1
45 James Coutre C JR 6–9 5.9 5.4
52 Les DeYoung C JR 6–9
Mike Longaker G FR 6–1 0.2 0.0

Source[2][3]

Schedule and results

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site
city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 29, 1976*
at Central Michigan L 76–81  0–1
Rose Arena 
Mount Pleasant, MI
Dec 4, 1976*
Western Michigan L 73–74  0–2
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 1976*
No. 9 North Carolina L 58–81  0–3
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Dec 11, 1976*
Eastern Michigan W 54–52 OT 1–3
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Dec 15*
Detroit Mercy L 94–99  1–4
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Dec 18, 1976*
at Canisius W 82–59  2–4
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 
Buffalo, NY
Dec 18, 1976*
NC State W 78–60  3–4
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 1976*
vs. Holy Cross
Gator Bowl Tournament semifinals
L 61–70  3–5
Swisher Gymnasium 
Jacksonville, FL
Dec 30, 1976*
vs. Jacksonville
Gator Bowl Tournament third place game
L 63–65  3–6
Swisher Gymnasium 
Jacksonville, FL
Big Ten regular season
Jan. 6, 1977
Wisconsin W 84–61  4–6
(1–0)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Jan 8, 1977
Northwestern L 68–70  4–7
(1–1)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Jan 15, 1977
No. 6 Michigan
Rivalry
L 70–83  4–8
(1–2)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Jan 17, 1977
at Indiana W 61–60  5–8
(2–2)
Assembly Hall 
Bloomington, IN
Jan 20, 1977
Illinois W 67–58  6–8
(3–2)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Jan 22, 1977
No. 19 Purdue L 70–76  6–9
(3–3)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Jan 24, 1977
at No. 11 Minnesota L 70–75  6–10
(3–4)
Williams Arena 
Minneapolis, MN
Jan 27, 1977
at Northwestern L 58–66  6–11
(3–5)
Welsh-Ryan Arena 
Evanston, IL
Jan 29, 1977
at Wisconsin L 83–87  6–12
(3–6)
Wisconsin Field House 
Madison, WI
Feb 5, 1977
Indiana L 79–81  6–13
(3–7)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Feb 7, 1977
at Iowa L 79–87  6–14
(3–8)
Iowa Field House 
Iowa City, IA
Feb 12, 1977
at Ohio State W 71–67  7–14
(4–8)
St. John Arena 
Columbus, OH
Feb 17, 1977
No. 12 Minnesota L 77–99  7–15
(4–9)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Feb 19, 1977
Iowa W 81–79  8–15
(5–9)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Feb 26, 1977
at No. 3 Michigan
Rivalry
L 65–69  8–16
(5–10)
Crisler Arena 
Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 28, 1977
Ohio State W 80–79  9–16
(6–10)
Jenison Field House 
East Lansing, MI
Mar 3, 1977
at Purdue L 69–78  9–17
(6–11)
Mackey Arena 
West Lafayette, IN
Mar 5, 1977
at Illinois W 62–61  10–17
(7–11)
Assembly Hall 
Champaign, IL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source[4][5]
gollark: Does it *say* PotatOS Tau when you boot it?
gollark: Are you running Tau or Hypercycle? I think SPUDNET may have broken.
gollark: What's its ID?
gollark: I've seen copies of my tmpim wiki page a while ago, but they seemed outdated.
gollark: Not really, some people sell things, and no, there are no security risks because the aggregate processing power is **not** being used to attack the US government or indeed any other governments.

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.