Basketball – Syndication Server

Tom Izzo comments on ‘specialness’ of Michigan State basketball program

For Tom Izzo, Thursday night’s alumni game against Washington was ‘bigger than the game’

One common refrain I have noticed from Tom Izzo in his later years is his constant mission to make sure that fans, alumni, faculty, media members – basically anyone who comes in contact with the Michigan State basketball program – appreciates what a unique program they have in East Lansing.

On Thursday night, the Spartans blew out the Washington Huskies on alumni night, and after the game, Tom Izzo made sure to give credit to all the alumni who came back and noted the ‘specialness’ of the program he has overseen all these years.

Watch it below:

No place like Michigan State 💚 pic.twitter.com/kCJQYJyiTX

— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) January 10, 2025

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Michigan State basketball, Duke reportedly in advanced discussions to play game in East Lansing next season

Michigan State and Duke are reportedly close to finalizing a game in East Lansing next season

According to a new report from Jon Rothstein, Michigan State basketball and Duke are reportedly in ‘advanced discussions’ for Duke to travel to East Lansing for a game next season.

Tom Izzo first hinted that this was a possibility back in November.

This move would complete a home-and-home series with Duke and MSU that started all the way back in 2020 with a game between the Spartans and the Blue Devils in Durham during COVID for the Champions Classic.

Purdue head coach links Lauren Betts to Boilermaker legend Zach Edey

Purdue women’s basketball coach Katie Gearlds effusively praised UCLA superstar Lauren Betts, comparing her to Purdue legend Zach Edey.

After the UCLA Bruins defeated Purdue 83-49 to match the best-ever start to a season in Bruins’ history, Boilermakers head coach Katie Gearlds had kind words for UCLA coach Cori Close and her team. During the postgame press conference, a reporter asked Gearlds about the Bruins’ center, Lauren Betts. The reporter referred to Betts as “one of the best” post players in the country, but Gearlds cut the reporter off. “Not one of,” Gearalds said. “The best post player in the country. Probably National Player of the Year, right? She’s that good.” Gearlds compared Betts to a Purdue great, Zach Edey, who won Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year last season and is now with the Memphis Grizzlies.

“It’s like Zach Edey. You gameplan everything around her and the other kids come in and make shots,” Gearalds said of Betts. “We play a lot of good post players in the Big Ten, but not anyone like that.”

Betts led the Bruins with 17 points and seven rebounds in the win, despite playing just 22 minutes in the blowout win. Betts has also been able to take the brunt of the opponents’ defensive attention and still produce while making things significantly easier for her Bruin teammates.

Gearlds also shared how Close would call and encourage the head coach, who’s in her fourth season as the Boilermakers head coach.

“I talk to Coach Cori all the time. She’s like ‘Kate’,” Gearlds said, while doing an impression of Close. “It took me nine years to get it turned around here. You got to stay with it, you got to trust your process.”

Now Close and UCLA will try to secure the best start in program history on Sunday at home against Northwestern.

Colorado welcoming West Virginia to Boulder in search of first Big 12 win

The Buffs will battle No. 21 West Virginia on Sunday in Boulder

Still searching for its first Big 12 Conference win, Colorado men’s basketball will welcome West Virginia to Boulder for an early Sunday afternoon matchup.

The Mountaineers (11-3, 2-1 Big 12) are currently ranked No. 21 in the AP Poll and No. 23 in the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll, but they have proven beatable. West Virginia is coming off a 75-56 home loss to the Arizona Wildcats and has also fallen to Pitt and Louisville.

Entering Sunday, guard Javon Small averages 19.4 points per game to lead the Mountaineers.

Colorado (9-5, 0-3 Big 12) remains winless in conference play after falling to Iowa State, Arizona State and most recently, UCF. Wednesday’s 75-74 loss to the Knights came in heartbreaking fashion as center Elijah Malone’s game-winning layup attempt was blocked at the buzzer.

Guard Julian Hammond III and forward Andrej Jakimovski are averaging 13.6 and 11.4 points per game, respectively, to lead Colorado’s scoring attack.

Tipoff between the Buffs and Mountaineers is set for 1 p.m. MT (ESPN+) at the CU Events Center.

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Best photos from Alabama vs. Texas A&M over the years

Alabama and Texas A&M will meet once again Saturday night in College Station.

On Saturday night in College Station, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas A&M Aggies are set to meet once again in what is shaping up to be one of the more anticipated matchups in the recent history of the SEC rivalry.

Yes, even with two teams that have met before in the SEC Tournament more than once, Saturday’s meeting between the Crimson Tide and Aggies is set to be one of the most anticipated, as both are ranked within the Top 10 in both major college basketball polls.

In all, Alabama owns a 13-11 all-time advantage over Texas A&M, and have won both of the last two meetings, one of which was in the SEC Tournament championship game.

The lone matchup scheduled between the two this season, Alabama vs. Texas A&M will tipoff this Saturday, Jan. 11, from Reed Arena in College Station, Texas at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Before the Crimson Tide and Aggies meet once again however, let’s pause to take a look at some of the greatest photos from Alabama vs. Texas A&M in the last couple of years.

USC women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb publicly supports first responders

Lindsay Gottlieb and the rest of the Trojans are thinking of everyone in LA and personally know people whose lives have been uprooted by the wildfires.

On Wednesday night, USC women’s basketball racked up a huge road victory over No. 8 Maryland. While the Trojans were taking down the Terrapins on the East Coast, however, a tragedy was unfolding back in LA. As the game was being played, wildfires continued to ravage Southern California’s urban areas, destroying numerous homes and businesses.

During her postgame press conference, USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb made sure to touch on this.

“We’ve been on the road for whatever it is now, five days, and our city is on fire,” Gottlieb said following Wednesday’s game. “It’s been hard to be away and watch those scenes.

“Just wanna send our thoughts and prayers to the first responders, to those impacted—I have friends that have been displaced, I know our players probably do too. That’s more important obviously than what we’re doing.”

USC is currently scheduled to host Penn State at Galen Center Sunday evening. Given that several other major sporting events in Los Angeles have been either postponed or moved, it will be a situation to monitor as the game gets closer.

Watch highlights from MSU Basketball’s dominant win over Washington

Watch highlights from the Spartans’ dominant victory over Washington on Thursday

It was a no-doubter for the Spartans on Thursday night.

Michigan State basketball made easy work of Washington on Thursday, cruising to an 88-54 victory over the visiting Huskies. Michigan State fell behind 1-0 to start the game, but from that point on it was all Spartans. Michigan State used a defensive dominant performance in the first half to build a nearly 30-point lead, and from there they coasted to the win.

Michigan State improved to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in Big Ten play with the win. The Spartans have now won eight straight games dating back to the Maui Invitational in November.

Check out highlights from the Spartans’ win over Washington in the video below.

This video is courtesy of the Big Ten Network

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Texas A&M men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams admits that he does ‘not watch any games’

“Without being condescending, I have literally tried to live in the most narrow lane you can possibly imagine. Rarely look at my phone.”

The Texas A&M men’s basketball team has gotten off to an undefeated start through two games of SEC action and coach Buzz Williams is well aware of the debates that are beginning because of it.

“It is the first full week of conference play. If you were a fan, this would be fun. If you had a platform such as you guys or you were a media personality, like I am assuming some of you guys are, it is good fodder, it is good content. It is like, what about this and what about that and this coach and that player and what is next? What about what happened last week? That is what has created the exposure that this league has,” Williams explained Wednesday. “Without being condescending, I have literally tried to live in the most narrow lane you can possibly imagine. Rarely look at my phone. I do not watch any games. I am not talented enough to give away emotion and energy to something that does not impact us.

“Because when you are doing this for whatever, three hours tonight, shoot around this morning for an hour, film this morning before shootaround, chapel before film, travel here, all of the things that you are doing – when you give away time, energy, emotion over what is about to be one- and two-possession games for 10 consecutive weeks, I do not think you can lead from that. When you are trying as best as you can to be responsible and leading, on average, 20-year-olds who are completely bombarded, I just want to try to be the best example I can be. We are really thankful. We are glad that the bus ride, that the pizza will taste a little better. We are glad that it is only an hour home.

“But we are going to get home at whatever time, and literally, the preparation for Saturday’s game against another top 20 – this one, top five – team, starts as soon as I take a shower. I understand that is what comes with the job, so I do not want a portion of what I am saying to come across as if I am complaining. But thankful, OK, purge, cleanse. We have to figure out if we have a chance in another one- or two-possession game, if we can get it to that on Saturday.”

The No. 9 Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) host No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0) at Reed Arena on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

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‘We tried real hard,’ Basketball coach Buzz Williams reflects on Aggies beating Oklahoma

“I do not think that they ever dropped their heads,” he said. “They were very accountable to one another and to what we were trying to do.”

After trailing by 18 points Wednesday night, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team fought back to beat Oklahoma on the road, which pleased head coach Buzz Williams.

“I just think we tried real hard. Oklahoma is so gifted offensively, and coach Moser is an offensive savant in regards to how he uses that talent. But there is always a lot of lipstick prior to the shot attempt that causes a lot of confusion, a lot of really gifted decision-makers with the ball. But the things that they are doing are really difficult to guard,” Williams explained. “In many respects, they beat us from start to finish. I do not know that you can give up 42 points from three with the 3-point field goal percentage being higher than the overall percentage and it not be 51-33. Actually, I would say that should be the line, 51-33, because everything that we were trying, they were taking advantage of and having near-perfect success.

“But I do think that the character of our guys and the relationships that they have with one another – they just hung around. I do not think that they ever dropped their heads. They were very accountable to one another and to what we were trying to do, and we were very fortunate to win.”

The No. 9 Aggies (13-2, 2-0 SEC) host No. 5 Alabama (13-2, 2-0) at Reed Arena on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Wisconsin basketball’s game vs Minnesota will only be available on one streaming platform

Wisconsin basketball vs Minnesota will only be available on one streaming platform

The Wisconsin Badgers (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) are back on the Kohl Center court on Friday night for a matchup against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-7, 0-4 Big Ten).

The two teams’ records display a discrepancy in quality, as do the latest KenPom standings —Wisconsin is up at No. 21 in the nation (No. 5 in the Big Ten), while Minnesota is down at No. 109 (last in the Big Ten).

The Badgers will look for a fifth consecutive victory and third straight Big Ten win when the two teams tip-off at 7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. CT. For fans interested in tuning in, the game will be broadcast exclusively via Peacock.

Wisconsin is 1-2 in Peacock-only games this season. Those results include a big win over Arizona, plus tough losses to Michigan and Illinois. Minnesota appears far less of a test than those three top-ranked foes, at least on paper.

The Badgers do enter the contest with considerable momentum after big wins over Iowa and Rutgers, the former in record-breaking fashion. Minnesota, meanwhile, has lost two straight to No. 20 Purdue and Ohio State. It has dropped all four conference games it has played this season.

Wisconsin enters Friday’s game as the prohibitive favorite. Fans will need to tune into Peacock to see how the game unfolds.

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