1956–57 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1956–57 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1956–57 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Forrest "Forddy" Anderson in his third year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished the season with a record of 16–10, 10–4 to win a share of the Big Ten Championship. They received the conference's bid to the NCAA tournament where they beat Notre Dame and Kentucky to advance to the Final Four. There they lost to eventual champion North Carolina. They lost to San Francisco in the third-place game.

1956–57 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Big Ten co-champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 11
Record	16–10 (10–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Forrest "Forddy" Anderson (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Bob Stevens (3rd season) Clarence "Sonny" Means (1st season)
Captain	George Ferguson
Home arena	Jenison Field House
Seasons ← 1955–56 1957–58 →

1956–57 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Indiana	10	–	4		.714			14	–	8		.636
No. 11 Michigan State	10	–	4		.714			16	–	10		.615
Minnesota	9	–	5		.643			14	–	8		.636
Ohio State	9	–	5		.643			14	–	8		.636
Purdue	8	–	6		.571			15	–	7		.682
Michigan	8	–	6		.571			13	–	9		.591
Illinois	7	–	7		.500			14	–	8		.636
Iowa	4	–	10		.286			8	–	14		.364
Wisconsin	3	–	11		.214			5	–	17		.227
Northwestern	2	–	12		.143			6	–	16		.273
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1955–56 season with an overall record of 13–9, 7–7 to finish in fifth place in Big Ten play.

Season summary

Johnny Green led MSU in rebounding at 14.6 a game and Jack Quiggle led in scoring at 15.3 points per game. Green and Quiggle were both named first team All-Big Ten.^[1]

After starting the season 4–3, Green joined the Spartans after he was discharged from the Marines.^[1] In his first four games with the Spartans, MSU lost all four games.^[1] However, the Spartans won their next 10 games before a loss in the regular-season finale to Michigan. The loss cost the Spartans an out-right championship, but they still earned their first trip to the NCAA tournament as the Big Ten representative to the NCAA Mideast Region.^[1]

In the NCAA Mideast Regional on Kentucky's campus, the No. 11-ranked Spartans played two games at 10,000-seat Memorial Coliseum: MSU avenged an earlier loss to No. 17 Notre Dame in the semifinal winning 85–83.^[2] In the final, the Spartans upset No. 3 Kentucky 80–68 to earn the school's first trip to the Final Four.^[2]

In the national semifinal, the Spartans faced No. 1 North Carolina. In a game that would be referred to as one of the greatest games in college basketball history, the lead changed 31 times.^[3] Quiggle made a half-court shot after regulation expired that would have won the game for the Spartans, but was ruled too late.^[4] Green missed a free throw at the end of the first overtime that also would have sealed the win for the Spartans. North Carolina's Pete Brennan made a basket as time expired to force a second overtime.^[3] Lennie Rosenbluth took over the Tar Heels in the third overtime as they eliminated the Spartans from championship contention.^[5]

MSU lost to San Francisco in the third-place game the following day.^[6]

Roster and statistics

1955–56 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	Harry Lux	G	SR	5–10	0.9	0.9
12	David Scott	G	SO	6–2	3.5	1.8
14	Jim Stouffer	G	SO	6–0	0.5
20	Tom Rand	G	SO	6–2	0.6	0.9
21	Jack Quiggle	G	JR	6–3	15.3	5.6
22	Joe Reading	F	JR	6–5
23	Bob Anderegg	F	SO	6–3	8.5	5.0
24	Johnny Green	C	SO	6–5	13.2	14.6
25	Larry Jennings	C	SO	6–5	0.0
30	George Ferguson	F	SR	6–3	13.1	5.8
31	Charles Bencie	F	JR	6–6	5.5	3.6
32	Gary Siegmeier	C	SO	6–5	0.5	0.2
33	Larry Hedden	F	JR	6–5	14.3	7.8
34	Tom Markovich	F	SO	6–3	1.1	0.7
35	Pat Wison	G	SR	6–0	4.2	2.8
	Ralph Andreson
	Don Arend
	Larry Jennings	G		6–5
	Warren Marazita
	Joe Reading	F		6–5
	John Russell	F		6–1

Source^[7][8]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1956*		Iowa State	L 53–60	0–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 8, 1956*		Brigham Young	W 79–61	1–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 17, 1956*		at Butler	L 79–83	1–2	Hinkle Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, IN
Dec 22, 1956*		Marquette	W 92–65	2–2	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 27, 1956*		vs. Nebraska Big Seven Classic quarterfinals	W 79–65	3–2	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, MO
Dec 28, 1956*		vs. Colorado Big Seven Classic semifinals	L 87–90	3–3	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, MO
Dec 29, 1956*		vs. Oklahoma Big Seven Classic third-place game	W 76–74 OT	4–3	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, MO
Jan 5, 1957		Purdue	L 71–72	4–4 (0–1)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 7, 1957		Michigan Rivalry	L 69–70	4–5 (0–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 15, 1957*		Notre Dame	L 76–86	4–6	Notre Dame Fieldhouse  South Bend, IN
Jan 19, 1957		at No. 17 Ohio State	L 51–70	4–7 (0–3)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Jan 26, 1957		at Minnesota	W 72–59	5–7 (1–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Jan 28, 1957		No. 12 Ohio State	W 73–64	6–7 (2–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 2, 1957		at Northwestern	W 77–63	7–7 (3–3)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Feb 9, 1957		No. 15 Illinois	W 70–64	8–7 (4–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 11, 1957		at No. 17 Purdue	W 68–66	9–7 (5–3)	Lambert Fieldhouse  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 16, 1957		Iowa	W 77–67	10–7 (6–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1957		at No. 16 Illinois	W 89–83	11–7 (7–3)	Huff Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 23, 1957		Minnesota	W 70–65	12–7 (8–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 25, 1957		at Wisconsin	W 78–62	13–7 (9–3)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Mar 2, 1957		No. 10 Indiana	W 76–61	14–7 (10–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1957		Michigan Rivalry	L 72–81	14–8 (10–4)	Yost Field House  Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA Tournament
Mar 15, 1957*	No. 8	vs. No. 17 Notre Dame Region semifinals	W 85–83	15–8	Memorial Coliseum  Lexington, KY
Mar 16, 1957*	No. 8	vs. No. 3 Kentucky Region finals	W 80–68	16–8	Memorial Coliseum  Lexington, KY
Mar 22, 1957*	No. 8	vs. No. 1 North Carolina Final Four	L 70–74 3OT	16–9	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, MO
Mar 23, 1957*	No. 8	vs. San Francisco National third-place game	L 60–64	16–10	Municipal Auditorium  Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source[9][10].

Rankings

Main article: 1956–57 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	8	11

Source^[11]

References

1. "Michigan State jump start to first Final Four". Shanahan Report. March 30, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
2. "The night Adolph Rupp met Johnny Green". Shanahan Report. March 16, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
3. "USATODAY.com - Greatest 63 games in NCAA Tournament history". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
4. "Michigan State first confronted Final Four perfection in 1957". Shanahan Report. March 31, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
5. "Carolina's History with Michigan State". Tar Heel Blog. April 5, 2009. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
6. "San Francisco vs. Michigan State Box Score, March 23, 1957 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
7. "1956-57 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
8. "2016-17 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
9. "1956-57 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".
10. "1956 Big 7 Holiday Tournament - Varsity Pride".
11. "1956-57 Michigan State Spartans". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 5, 2016.