1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1965–66 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 John E. Benington in his first year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 15–7, 10–4 in Big Ten play to finish in second place.

1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	15–7 (10–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (1st season)
Assistant coach	Robert Nordmann
Captain	William Curtis
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1964–65 1966–67 →

1965–66 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 9 Michigan	11	–	3		.786			18	–	8		.692
Michigan State	10	–	4		.714			15	–	7		.682
Iowa	8	–	6		.571			17	–	7		.708
Illinois	8	–	6		.571			12	–	12		.500
Minnesota	7	–	7		.500			14	–	10		.583
Northwestern	7	–	7		.500			12	–	12		.500
Wisconsin	6	–	8		.429			11	–	13		.458
Ohio State	5	–	9		.357			11	–	13		.458
Indiana	4	–	10		.286			8	–	16		.333
Purdue	4	–	10		.286			8	–	16		.333
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1964–65 season 5–18, 1–13 in Big Ten play to finish in last place.

Following the season, head coach Forrest "Forddy" Anderson was fired after 11 years as the Spartans' head coach. Shortly thereafter, the school hired John E. Benington, head coach at Saint Louis, as head coach.

Roster and statistics

1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	John Gorman	G	SR	5–11	2.2	0.2
12	John Bailey	G	SO	6–0	8.1	3.2
13	Edward "Ted" Crary	F	JR	6–5	0.8	–
14	Gary Spade	G	SO	5–11	–	–
15	Steven Rymal	G	SO	5–11	8.3	2.8
21	James O'Brien	G	SO	6–3	0.7	–
22	Shannon Reading	G	JR	6–1	6.0	1.8
23	James Kupper	G	SR	6–0	1.3	0.5
24	Stan Washington links to wrong Stan Washington	G	SR	6–3	18.0	10.6
25	William Curtis	F	SR	6–8	16.4	9.3
32	Jack Wynn	C	SO	6–10	1.0	–
33	Heywood Edwards	F	SO	6–5	1.7	–
35	Robert Miller	F	SR	6–5	1.3	1.1
41	Arthur Baylor	F	SO	6–6	4.5	3.6
42	Gerald Geistler	C	SO	6–8	0.8	–
43	Richard Holmes	F	SR	6–4	1.4	–
44	David Keeler	F	JR	6–8	1.0	–
45	Matthew Aitch	C	JR	6–7	13.8	8.8

Source^[1][2]

Schedule and results

The Spartans participated in the second annual Rainbow Classic at the Honolulu International Center from December 27–30, 1966.^[3] There they played against a Marine and Army team in the tournament. These games do not count on the official record.

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Dec 4, 1965*		Western Michigan	L 82–85	0–1	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 7, 1965*		at Bowling Green	W 84–59	1–1	Anderson Arena  Bowling Green, OH
Dec 9, 1965*		Butler	W 75–59	2–1	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 11, 1965*		at Notre Dame	W 93–69	3–1	Notre Dame Fieldhouse  South Bend, IN
Dec 18, 1965*		Saint Joseph's	L 65–82	3–2	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1965*		Tulane	W 80–61	4–2	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 22, 1965*		at Drake	W 61–50	5–2	Veterans Memorial Auditorium  Des Moines, IA
Dec 27, 1965*		vs. Hawaiian Marines Rainbow Classic	W 84–53		Honolulu International Center  Honolulu, HI
Dec 28, 1965*		vs. Tulsa Rainbow Classic	L 67–78	5–3	Honolulu International Center  Honolulu, HI
Dec 30, 1965*		vs. Hawaiian Army Rainbow Classic	W 97–69		Honolulu International Center  Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
Jan 8, 1966		Minnesota	W 85–65	6–3 (1–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 10, 1966		at Purdue	W 92–74	7–3 (2–0)	Lambert Fieldhouse  West Lafayette, IN
Jan 15, 1966		Ohio State	W 80–64	8–3 (3–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 22, 1966		at Iowa	L 76–90	8–4 (3–1)	Iowa Fieldhouse  Iowa City, IA
Jan 24, 1966		Purdue	W 92–74	9–4 (4–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 29, 1966		at Northwestern	W 77–68	10–4 (5–1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Feb 5, 1966		Wisconsin	W 79–65	11–4 (6–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 12, 1966		at Minnesota	L 71–81	11–5 (6–2)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Feb 19, 1966		at Wisconsin	L 77–78	11–6 (6–3)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Feb 22, 1966		Illinois	W 68–66	12–6 (7–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 26, 1966		Indiana	W 69–63	13–6 (8–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 28, 1966		at Ohio State	W 98–79	14–6 (9–3)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Mar 5, 1966		at Indiana	L 76–86	14–7 (9–4)	New Fieldhouse  Bloomington, IN
Mar 7, 1966		Michigan Rivalry	W 86–77	15–7 (10–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source^[4][5][6]

References

1. "1966-67 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
2. "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
3. Ramsey, Kirk. "Tropic Lightning News, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam". www.25thida.org. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
4. Ramsey, Kirk. "Tropic Lightning News, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam". www.25thida.org. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
5. "1965-66 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
6. "Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). October 8, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.