1994–95 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1994–95 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1994–95 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Jud Heathcote in his 19th and final season at Michigan State. The Spartans finished the season with a record of 22–6, 14–4 in Big Ten play to finish in second place, one game behind Purdue. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Southeast region, where they were upset by 14th-seeded Weber State in the First Round.^[2] The game marked the final game Heathcote's coaching tenure at MSU. Longtime assistant coach Tom Izzo would take over the following year.

1994–95 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Oldsmobile Spartan Classic champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 11
Record	22–6 (14–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (19th season)
Assistant coaches	Tom Izzo Stan Joplin Brian Gregory
Captains	Eric Snow Shawn Respert
Home arena	Breslin Center
Seasons ← 1993–94 1995–96 →

1994–95 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 12 Purdue	15	–	3		.833			25	–	7		.781
No. 11 Michigan State	14	–	4		.778			22	–	6		.786
Indiana	11	–	7		.611			19	–	12		.613
Michigan	11	–	7		.611			17	–	14		.548
Illinois	10	–	8		.556			19	–	12		.613
Minnesota	10	–	8		.556			20	–	11		.645
Penn State	9	–	9		.500			21	–	11		.656
Iowa	9	–	9		.500			21	–	12		.636
Wisconsin	7	–	11		.389			13	–	14		.481
Ohio State	2	–	16		.111			6	–	22		.214
Northwestern	1	–	17		.056			5	–	22		.185
Rankings from AP Poll *Minnesota 1 NCAA Tourn. game vacated due to sanctions against the program; 1 Win by forfeit (non-conf.)[1] Disputed record (19-12)

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1993–94 season with an overall record of 20–12, 10–8 in Big Ten play to finish in fourth place. Michigan State received an at-large bid as a No. 7 seed to the NCAA tournament. There they defeated Seton Hall before losing to Duke in the Second Round.

Season

The Spartans were led by All-American Shawn Respert, who averaged 25.6 points per game.

The Spartans began their season ranked No. 18 in the country and on the road, avenging a prior loss to UIC a few years prior. A win over Louisville preceded a trip to future Big Ten foe Nebraska. In a high scoring game, the Spartans were outscored 96–91. MSU went on to win their next seven games including their first two conference games, wins over Wisconsin and No. 22-ranked Iowa moving the Spartans to No. 14 in the country. A loss at Indiana led to another seven-games winning streak, including wins over non-conference foe Oklahoma State and rival Michigan pushing MSU to a No. 7 ranking.. A home loss to No. 25 Purdue and No. 24 Minnesota in two of their next four games dropped MSU out of the top ten rankings, slipping to 12th. The Spartans would rally to win four of their final five games to finish the regular season ranked No. 11 and one game behind conference champions Purdue.

The Spartans received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Southeast region. The Spartans overlooked No. 14 seed Weber State in the First Round and were stunned 79–72.^[3] MSU led by nine at the half against the Wildcats, but were outscored by 16 in the second half.^[4]

Roster and statistics

1994–95 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
Name	Class	Pos	Height	Summary
Damion Beathea	JR	F	6'7"	5.0 Pts, 3.5 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Quinton Brooks	JR	F	6'7"	11.3 Pts, 5.2 Reb, 0.9 Ast
Jamie Feick	JR	C	6'9"	9.9 Pts, 10.0 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Jon Garavaglia	SO	F	6'9"	7.6 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 0.6 Ast
David Hart	JR	G	6'4"	0.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Thomas Kelley	FR	G	6'2"	1.4 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Steve Nicodemus	JR	G	6'4"	1.2 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Andy Penick	SR	G	6'2"	1.6 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.5 Ast
Steve Polonowski	SO	F	6'9"	2.2 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.6 Ast
Mark Prylow	SR	G	6'3"	0.8 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Mike Respert	SO	G	5'11"	1.3 Pts, 0.1 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Shawn Respert	SR	G	6'1"	25.6 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 3.0 Ast
Eric Snow	SR	G	6'3"	10.8 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 7.8 Ast
Ray Weathers	SO	G	6'3"	3.5 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Source[5]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 30, 1994*	No. 18	at UIC	W 92–78	1–0	UIC Pavilion  Chicago, IL
Dec 3, 1994*	No. 18	Louisville	W 85–71	2–0	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 10, 1994*	No. 15	at Nebraska	L 91–96	2–1	Bob Devaney Sports Center  Lincoln, NE
Dec 12, 1994*	No. 18	Cleveland State	W 111–68	3–1	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 17, 1994*	No. 18	at Detroit Mercy	W 80–63	4–1	Calihan Hall  Detroit, MI
Dec 20, 1994*	No. 17	Tennessee	W 78–68	5–1	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 1994*	No. 15	Ball State Oldsmobile Spartan Classic semifinals	W 117–95	6–1	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Dec 30 1994*	No. 15	Long Beach State Oldsmobile Spartan Classic championship	W 67–64	7–1	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 4, 1995	No. 14	at Wisconsin	W 78–64	8–1 (1–0)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Jan 7, 1995	No. 14	No. 22 Iowa	W 69–68	9–1 (2–0)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 11, 1995	No. 11	at Indiana	L 82–89	9–2 (2–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Jan 14, 1995*	No. 11	Oklahoma State	W 70–69	10–2	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 18, 1995	No. 12	Northwestern	W 93–56	11–2 (3–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 22, 1995	No. 12	at Michigan Rivalry	W 73–71	12–2 (4–1)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 25, 1995	No. 10	Minnesota	W 54–53	13–2 (5–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Jan 28, 1995	No. 10	at Illinois	W 75–67	14–2 (6–1)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 2, 1995	No. 9	Penn State	W 82–62	15–2 (7–1)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 1995	No. 9	at Ohio State	W 67–58	16–2 (8–1)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Feb 7, 1995	No. 7	No. 25 Purdue	L 69–78	16–3 (8–2)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 11, 1995	No. 7	Penn State	W 68–53	17–3 (9–2)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 15, 1995	No. 8	Illinois	W 68–58	18–3 (10–2)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1995	No. 8	at No. 24 Minnesota	L 57–66	18–4 (10–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Feb 21, 1995	No. 12	Michigan Rivalry	W 67–64	19–4 (11–3)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Feb 25, 1995	No. 12	at Northwestern	W 88–60	20–4 (12–3)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Mar 5, 1995	No. 10	Indiana	W 67–61	21–4 (13–3)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
Mar 8, 1995	No. 9	at Iowa	L 78–79	21–5 (13–4)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
Mar 11, 1995	No. 9	Wisconsin	W 97–72	22–5 (14–4)	Breslin Center  East Lansing, MI
NCAA tournament
Mar 17, 1995*	(3 SE) No. 11	(14 SE) Weber State First Round	L 72–79	22–6	Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, FL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source[6].

Rankings

Main article: 1994–95 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movement
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked.

Poll	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18
AP	20	17	18	15	18	17	15	14	11	12	10	9	7	8	12	10	9	11

Source.^[7]

Awards and honors

• Shawn Respert – All-Big Ten First Team

References

1. "Forfeits and Vacated Games". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
2. "Weber State 79, Michigan State 72". Retrieved July 7, 2016.
3. Couch, Graham. "Couch: Weber State joins Spartans at NCAA tourney site; a memory stirs". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
4. "Weber State vs. Michigan State Box Score, March 17, 1995". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
5. "1994-95 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats".
6. "1994-95 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".
7. "1995 Michigan State Spartans". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 12, 2016.