Tag: Joey Hauser

WATCH: Highlights from MSU Basketball’s season-opening victory over Eastern Michigan

Michigan State basketball tipped off the season with a relatively easy victory over Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, 83-67.

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Michigan State basketball tipped off the season with a relatively easy victory over Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, 83-67.

The Spartans were led offensively by junior guard Foster Loyer, who hit 6-of-10 three-point attempts en route to a career-high 20 points. Junior forward Joey Hauser (15 points), junior forward Gabe Brown (12 points), and senior guard Joshua Langford (10 points) each joined Loyer with double-digit scoring efforts against the Eagles.

Check out highlights from Wednesday night’s season-opening victory below:

MSU returns to the court on Saturday against Notre Dame. This home match-up will tipoff at 8 p.m. EST and can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

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Foster Loyer leads MSU Basketball to season-opening victory over Eastern Michigan

MSU cruised to a season-opening victory over short-handed Eastern Michigan, 83-67, thanks to a career-high performance from Foster Loyer.

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Michigan State basketball cruised to a season-opening victory over short-handed Eastern Michigan, 83-67, thanks to a career-high performance from the Spartans’ new starting point guard — Foster Loyer.

Loyer hit 6-of-10 three-point attempts on Wednesday night to lead the Spartans with a career-high 20 points. Loyer also finished with two assists.

Joey Hauser (15 points), Gabe Brown (12 points), and Joshua Langford (10 points) also joined Loyer in the double-digit points column in the Spartans’ season-opening victory. Wednesday was the first time Langford had played in nearly two years after battling foot injuries the past few seasons.

It was announced shortly before tipoff that Eastern Michigan would be missing six players in this match-up, leaving the Eagles with only eight available players. It is unclear why the Eagles were without those players.

MSU got off to a sloppy start in the opening half of the season, with Eastern Michigan hanging around for the better part of the first half. The Eagles held a 19-17 point with 8:50 to go in the first half, but from that point on the Spartans took control. MSU ended the first half on a 26-to-8 run to take a 43-27 lead at halftime.

Loyer was the first half star for the Spartans with 17 of his career-high 20 points coming in the first 20 minutes.

The Spartans were able to build upon their halftime lead, with MSU leading by as many as 21 points in the second half. Eastern Michigan was never able to get the game within single digits in the second half.

MSU finished the game shooting 54.5% compared to 40.6% for Eastern Michigan. The Spartans were especially impressive from behind the arc, hitting 12-of-28 (42.9%) from three-point range against the Eagles.

One area that’ll need to be improved is protecting the basketball (yes, that issue again). The Spartans had 18 turnovers, which will surely be something head coach Tom Izzo will address moving forward.

Next up for MSU is the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Saturday. The Spartans will host Notre Dame at the Breslin Center, with tipoff at 8 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

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Foster Loyer, Thomas Kithier get the start in MSU Basketball’s game vs. Eastern Michigan

In Michigan State’s season opener against Eastern Michigan, Foster Loyer and Thomas Kithier are starting for the Spartans.

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Well, I predicted that this may be the case last week. Despite the assumption all summer being that Michigan State Basketball would be starting Rocket Watts at point guard, in their first game against Eastern Michigan they are starting Foster Loyer.

In addition, the Spartans are also starting Thomas Kithier over players like Marcus Bingham, Malik Hall, and Gabe Brown.

While I take some objection to these decisions, they are pretty consistent with an Izzo coaching style as Kithier and Loyer both have a lot of experience, something Izzo covets.

The starting lineup looks like this:

  • G Foster Loyer
  • G Joshua Langford
  • F Aaron Henry
  • F Thomas Kithier
  • F Joey Hauser

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MSU Basketball Season Preview: What you need to know as 2020-21 season begins

Before the season begins, let’s take a look back at some of the preseason headlines and get a better idea of what we can expect this season.

College basketball has returned to East Lansing, with the Spartans set to take the floor on Wednesday for their season-opener against Eastern Michigan. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. EST and the game can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

Before the season begins, let’s take a quick look back at some of the preseason headlines and get a better idea of what we can expect from the Spartans this season.

Michigan State comes in at No. 13 in Preseason AP Top 25

The preseason AP Top 25 was released today and Michigan State comes in at No. 13.

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The preseason AP Top 25 was released today and Michigan State came in at No. 13. They also come in as the 4th highest Big Ten team behind Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, all of whom are in the top 10. Other Big Ten teams to make the top 25 are Ohio State, Michigan and Rutgers. Gonzaga came in as the the No. 1 team ahead of Baylor, Villanova and Virginia.

Michigan State is losing key pieces from last year in Cassius Winston, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Kyle Ahrens. But they have incoming freshmen AJ Hoggard and Many Sissoko. Unfortunately, Hoggard was just revealed to be undergoing surgery and will be out, but should be back for the start of the season. Also, Marquette transfer Joey Hauser will finally make his Spartan debut this year.

Michigan State begins the season December 1 against Duke in the Champions Classic.

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MSU Basketball just outside top 10 in CBS Sports’ preseason rankings

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports released the final batch of his 1-357 preseason rankings on Thursday, with MSU sitting just outside the top 10.

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This is the time of the year where we are bombarded with college basketball preseason rankings from media outlets, and again we are seeing the Spartans just outside the top 10 — this time from CBS Sports.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports released the final batch of his 1-357 preseason rankings on Thursday, with Michigan State sitting in a familiar spot just outside the top 10. Norlander pegged the Spartans at No. 13 in his rankings, behind three other Big Ten teams — Illinois (No. 4), Wisconsin (No. 8), and Iowa (No. 9).

Norlander offered up his thoughts on the Spartans in his rankings, citing the loss of Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman for why he has MSU outside the top three in the Big Ten. He did, however, point out newcomer forward Joey Hauser as a sneaky good three-point shooting threat.

Here’s some of what Norlander had to say about MSU:

“The Spartans, for the first time in a while, aren’t a sure thing to be a top-three Big Ten team. Yet, I’ll tell you that Tom Izzo’s league contemporaries are not assuming anything with this group. Michigan State lost one of its best players in school history, Cassius Winston, and that is going to sting. Xavier Tillman staying in the draft is also a big hit. But MSU does look fairly durable for players 1-8 heading into Nov. 25.”

Jeff Borzello of ESPN also has MSU at No. 13 in his updated preseason poll that was released last week. It appears that the Spartans’ sweet spot in these preseason rankings will be right in the No. 12 – No. 15 window, but don’t be surprised if some people are higher on MSU — like Dick Vitale who had the green-and-white at No. 7.

Click here to see the rest of Norlander’s rankings and to read more on what he had to say about Michigan State, including his projection for the Spartans’ starting five.

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REPORT: MSU will play at Virginia in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported on Thursday evening that Virginia will host Michigan State in this year’s ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

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It appears Michigan State will be heading to Charlottesville for this year’s edition of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported on Thursday evening that Virginia will host Michigan State in this year’s annual battle between the Big Ten and ACC. This match-up will have a little bit of extra buzz to it because it’ll feature a battle between two brothers — Joey Hauser of MSU and Sam Hauser of Virginia.

Earlier on Thursday, Izzo met with reporters and said he was hopeful the schedule would be finalized in the next few days — and mentioned potential match-ups against Duke (as part of the Champions Classic), Notre Dame and other in-state opponents. Should MSU get Duke and Notre Dame on the schedule, that would mean the Spartans have three games against ACC teams in non-conference play.

Click here to see all of the reported ACC-Big Ten Challenge match-ups.

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Michigan State men’s basketball moves to No. 8 in ESPN’s way-too-early 2020 rankings

Michigan State men’s basketball moved up two spots to the No. 8 spot in ESPN’s updated way-too-early 2020 rankings. Read why here.

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According to ESPN, the Michigan State men’s basketball team is going to be very formidable this year.

ESPN released an updated version of their way-too-early 2020 rankings this morning in which the Spartans surged up to the No. 8 spot. Note, in the previous iteration of the way-too-early rankings, Michigan State originally ranked No. 10.

Here is what Jeff Borzello of ESPN had to say about his ranking for the Spartans:

The ultimate X factor in college basketball next season is going to be Joshua Langford, who missed the past season and a half because of a left foot injury. Langford has a year of eligibility left, though, and Tom Izzo told reporters in May that “if he’s healthy, his hope is to play.” Of course, we haven’t seen Langford play since December 2018, but if he is anything close to his pre-injury self, Izzo will have one of the best wings in the country at his disposal. He was averaging 15 points prior to his injury and hit double figures in every game as a junior. Fortunately for Izzo, he doesn’t need to count on Langford being a star again. Gabe Brown and Aaron Henry should both be back on the wings, and Marquette transfer Joey Hauser will bring perimeter shooting and scoring punch after sitting out last season. But a healthy Langford would be a great luxury to have.

Keep in mind, this ranking includes a projected starting lineup of Rocket Watts, Gabe Brown, Aaron Henry, Joey Hauser, and Xavier Tillman. It’s uncertain just yet if Henry or Tillman will return to Michigan State. We’ll see how these decisions impact the Spartan’s rankings for the 2020 season.

Iowa and Wisconsin are the only two Big Ten teams ahead of MSU in this version of ESPN’s rankings.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Joey Hauser’s waiver denied, MSU vs. Rutgers preview

What to make of the NCAA denied Hauser’s request to play and getting ready for MSU vs. Rutgers this weekend.

Wil and Matt discuss how crappy the NCAA is and the implications of them denying Joey Hauser’s waiver to play immediately. Then Matt tries to guess if Rutgers stats are real or fake. Also, a MSU vs. Rutgers “preview”.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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Michigan State Basketball’s Joey Hauser waiver appeal officially denied by NCAA

Joey Hauser’s waiver appeal to the NCAA has officially been denied. He will not play basketball this season.

The saga of the Joey Hauser waiver appeal to play after transferring from Marquette to Michigan State has officially concluded with a result that may annoy and frustrate MSU fans, faculty, and players: the star basketball player’s appeal has officially been denied by the NCAA.

The result and process, which head coach Tom Izzo repeatedly voiced his displeasure of, has led to him resigning from the NABC Board of Directors in what seems to be a show of protest towards the confusing transfer rules in the NCAA.

Spartan fans won’t be able to see Hauser this year, but fortunately Malik Hall, Julius Marble, and Marcus Bingham Jr. all look ready to contribute something in his stead this season, if it’s any consolation.

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