# 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.
The game marked the final game of Heathcote's coaching tenure at MSU. Longtime assistant coach Tom Izzo took over as the head coach the following year.

## 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. MSU led by nine at the half against the Wildcats, but were outscored by 16 in the second half.

## 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 |||||||||

## 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. ||||||

## 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.

## Awards and honors

* Shawn Respert – All-Big Ten First Team