1974–75 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1974–75 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1974–75 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 Gus Ganakas in his sixth year as head coach of the Spartans. MSU finished the season 17–9, 10–8 in Big Ten play to finish in fifth place.

1974–75 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–9 (10–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gus Ganakas (6th season)
Assistant coaches	Dick Versace Pat Miller Vernon Payne
Captain	Lindsay Hairston
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1973–74 1975–76 →

1974–75 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Indiana	18	–	0		1.000			31	–	1		.969
No. 19 Michigan	12	–	6		.667			19	–	8		.704
Minnesota	11	–	7		.611			18	–	8		.692
Purdue	11	–	7		.611			17	–	11		.607
Michigan State	10	–	8		.556			17	–	9		.654
Ohio State	8	–	10		.444			14	–	14		.500
Iowa	7	–	11		.389			10	–	16		.385
Wisconsin	5	–	13		.278			8	–	18		.308
Illinois	4	–	14		.222			8	–	18		.308
Northwestern	4	–	14		.222			6	–	20		.231
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1973–74 season 13–11, 8–6 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for fourth place.

Player walk-out

The season stands as one of the ugliest moments in MSU athletics history as 10 players, led by captain Lindsay Hairston, followed by Bob Chapman, Pete Davis, Terry Furlow, Bill Glover, Thomas McGill, Cedric Milton, Lovelle Rivers, Benny White and Edgar Wilson, walked out of a team meeting before their game against Indiana on January 4, 1975.^[1] At the time, it was assumed that the players were objecting to the fact that freshman Jeff Tropf, who was white, was starting over more experienced black players.^[2] Later, more complaints came to light including the arena being too cold during practice due to construction and the school's lack of emphasis on basketball.^[1] When the players returned an hour before game time, head coach Gus Ganakas suspended the players.^[2]

As a result, the team fielded junior varsity players and Tropf for the game against Indiana and were blown out 107–55.^[3] The next day, the suspended players aired their grievances with Ganakas, apologized, and were reinstated to the team. Tropf left the school after the season.^[1]

Roster and statistics

1974–75 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
12	William Glover	G	SR	6–2	12.0	1.4
22	Lovelle Rivers	F	SR	6–5	0.8
23	Benny White	G	JR	5–9	6.8	1.7
24	Cedric Milton	C	JR	6–9	2.3	2.6
25	Terry Furlow	F	JR	6–5	20.4	6.8
32	Peter Davis	G	SR	6–1	9.0	0.8
33	Edgar Wilson	F	SO	6–5	3.4	2.6
41	Thomas McGill	F	SR	6–4	1.4	1.2
42	James Dudley	F	FR	6–5	0.9	0.8
44	Robert Chapman	G	SO	6–2	4.4	1.3
45	Lindsay Hairston	C	SR	6–7	19.3	11.5
52	Jeffrey Tropf	C	FR	6–7	5.1	5.4
	Dave Jackson
	Mark Talaga

Source^[4][5]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 2, 1974*		Central Michigan	W 82–78	1–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 7, 1974*		Eastern Michigan	W 92–60	2–0	Jennison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1974*		Western Michigan	W 62–59	3–0	Jennison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1974*		at San Francisco Cable Car Classic semifinals	W 86–78	4–0	War Memorial Gymnasium  San Francisco, CA
Dec 21, 1974*		vs. Long Beach State Cable Car Classic final	L 62–74	4–1	War Memorial Gymnasium  San Francisco, CA
Dec 23, 1974*		at Detroit Mercy	W 72–69	5–1	Calihan Hall  Detroit, MI
Jan 2, 1975		at No. 18 Purdue	L 86–93	5–2 (0–1)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Jan 4, 1975		No. 2 Indiana	L 55–107	5–3 (0–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 6, 1975		Ohio State	W 88–84	6–3 (1–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 11, 1975		No. 11 Michigan Rivalry	W 86–78	7–3 (2–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 18, 1975		at No. 16 Minnesota	L 71–82	7–4 (2–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Jan 20, 1975		at Iowa	L 79–83	7–5 (2–4)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
Jan 25, 1975		Wisconsin	W 105–87	8–5 (3–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 27, 1975		Northwestern	W 54–50	9–5 (4–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1975		at Illinois	W 75–60	10–5 (5–4)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 3, 1975		at Ohio State	W 101–83	11–5 (6–4)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Feb 5, 1975*		at No. 14 Notre Dame	W 76–73	12–5	Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center  South Bend, IN
Feb 8, 1975		at Michigan Rivalry	L 84–96	12–6 (6–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 15, 1975		Minnesota	W 86–81	13–6 (7–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 17, 1975		Iowa	W 90–78	14–6 (8–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 22, 1975		at Wisconsin	L 96–103	14–7 (8–6)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Feb 24, 1975		at Northwestern	L 66–67	14–8 (8–7)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Mar 1, 1975		Illinois	W 96–82	15–8 (9–7)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 3, 1975		Purdue	W 84–82	16–8 (10–7)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 8, 1975		at No. 1 Indiana	L 79–94	16–9 (10–8)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source[6][5]

Awards and honors

• Terry Furlow – All-Big Ten First Team
• Terry Furlow – Big Ten Scoring Champion (20.2 ppg in-conference)
• Lindsay Hairston – All-Big Ten First Team

References

1. "Tropf returns to MSU 40 years after player walkout". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
2. "Michigan State civil rights pioneer reminds us — just as he reminded the Big Ten — that silence isn't always the best option". Land of 10. July 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
3. Weiskopf, Herman. "THE WEEK". SI.com. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
4. "1975–76 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
5. "16-17 Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
6. "1974-75 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results".