# 2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were coached by Tom Izzo in his seventh season. The Spartans played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. MSU finished the regular season 19–12, 10–6 to finish in a tie for fourth place in the Big Ten. The Spartans received a bid to the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive year where they lost in the First Round to NC State.

## Previous season

The Spartans finished the 2000–01 season 28–5, 13–3 in Big Ten play to finish in second place. Michigan State received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, their fourth straight trip to the Tournament, and advanced the Final Four, their third straight trip under Tom Izzo.
The Spartans lost Charlie Bell (13.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 5.1 APG) to graduation and freshman Zach Randolph (10.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.0 APG) and sophomore Jason Richardson (14.7 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 2.2 APG) to the NBA draft following the season.

## Season summary

After three consecutive years of trips to the Final Four, the Spartans began the season ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll. Michigan State was led by sophomore Marcus Taylor (16.8 points and 5.3 assists per game), freshman Chris Hill (11.5 points per game), and junior Adam Ballinger (11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game). The Spartans participated in the Preseason NIT where they defeated Detroit Mercy and No. 24 Oklahoma at Breslin Center, but then fell to No. 18 Syracuse and No. 23 Fresno State at Madison Square Garden. The Spartans also suffered non-conference losses to No. 6 Florida and No. 16 Stanford, but did beat No. 6 Arizona in a rematch of their Final Four clash the previous Spring. MSU finished the non-conference season at 9–4 and ranked No. 19 in the country.
In Big Ten play, MSU started the season with three straight losses, the last to Wisconsin, which snapped MSU's 53-game home winning streak. The Spartans did defeat No. 12 Illinois, No. 18 Ohio State at home and on the road, and No. 23 Indiana. Michigan State finished the conference schedule at 10–6 and in fourth place with an overall record of 19–10. The Spartans slipped out of the ranking following their opening conference losses and remained unranked the remainder of the season. MSU lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament to No. 23 Indiana marking the first time since 1997 that Michigan State did not win either the Big Ten regular season or tournament title.
The Spartans received an at-large bid as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, their fifth consecutive trip. The Spartans were eliminated in the First Round by NC State.
Following the season, sophomore Marcus Taylor declared for the NBA draft.

## Roster

2001–02 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team :
| Name | Class | Pos | Height | Summary |
| Aaron Alexander | SO | | | 0.3 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.0 Ast |
| Aloysius Anagonye | SO | F | 6'8" | 7.7 Pts, 6.3 Reb, 1.5 Ast |
| Alan Anderson | FR | F | 6'6" | 6.5 Pts, 4.2 Reb, 1.6 Ast |
| Jason Andreas | SO | C | 6'10" | 2.6 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast |
| Adam Ballinger | JR | F | 6'9" | 11.2 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 1.1 Ast |
| Tim Bograkos | FR | G | 6'2" | 1.4 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.5 Ast |
| Chris Hill | FR | G | 6'3" | 11.5 Pts, 3.2 Reb, 2.1 Ast |
| Mat Ishbia | SR | G | 5'10" | 1.1 Pts, 0.2 Reb, 0.7 Ast |
| Marcus Taylor | SO | G | 6'3" | 16.8 Pts, 2.9 Reb, 5.3 Ast |
| Kelvin Torbert | FR | G | 6'4" | 8.2 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 1.5 Ast |
| Brian Westrick | JR | F | 6'5" | 0.8 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.0 Ast |
| Adam Wolfe | FR | F | 6'9" | 1.7 Pts, 1.7 Reb, 0.1 Ast |
| Source |||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 2, 2001* | | Magic Johnson All-Stars | W 89–87 | | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Nov 18, 2001* | | Midwest All-Stars | W 72–62 $^{OT}$ | | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 12, 2001* , ESPN2 | No. 15 | Detroit Preseason NIT | W 80–70 | 1–0 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Nov 14, 2001* | No. 15 | No. 24 Oklahoma Preseason NIT | W 67–55 | 2–0 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Nov 21, 2001* | No. 13 | vs. No. 18 Syracuse Preseason NIT semifinals | L 58–69 | 2–1 | Madison Square Garden New York, NY |
| Nov 23, 2001* | No. 13 | vs. No. 21 Fresno State Preseason NIT third place game | L 58–63 | 2–2 | Madison Square Garden New York, NY |
| Nov 28, 2001* | No. 22 | vs. No. 9 Virginia Canceled because of wet floor and unplayable conditions ACC–Big Ten Challenge | | | Richmond Coliseum Richmond, VA |
| Nov 30, 2001* | No. 22 | IPFW Coca Cola Spartan Classic | W 81–68 | 3–2 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 1, 2001* | No. 22 | Lamar Coca Cola Spartan Classic championship | W 80–71 | 4–2 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 5, 2001* | No. 24 | at No. 4 Florida | L 70–74 | 4–3 | O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL |
| Dec 9, 2001* | No. 24 | Nicholls State | W 92–38 | 5–3 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 15, 2001* , CBS | No. 23 | No. 6 Arizona | W 74–60 | 6–3 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 17, 2001* | No. 17 | UNC Asheville | W 76-56 | 7–3 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 19, 2001* | No. 17 | Oakland | W 78–50 | 8–3 | Breslin Center East Lansing |
| Dec 22, 2001* | No. 17 | Seton Hall | W 68–64 | 9–3 | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Dec 29, 2001* | No. 13 | vs. No. 16 Stanford Pete Newell Challenge | L 64–75 | 9–4 | The Arena in Oakland Oakland, CA |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| Jan 5, 2002 | No. 19 | at Minnesota | L 67–70 | 9–5 (0–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 8, 2002 | No. 25 | at Indiana | L 65–83 | 9–6 (0–2) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN |
| Jan 12, 2002 | No. 25 | Wisconsin | L 63–64 | 9-7 (0–3) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Jan 16, 2002 | | Purdue | W 65–56 | 10–7 (1–3) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Jan 19, 2002 | | at Penn State | W 77–65 | 11–7 (2–3) | Bryce Jordan Center State College, PA |
| Jan 22, 2002 | | at Iowa | L 71–75 | 11–8 (2–4) | Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA |
| Jan 30, 2002 | | Michigan Rivalry | W 71–44 | 12–8 (3–4) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 3, 2002 , CBS | | at No. 12 Illinois | W 67–61 | 13–8 (4–4) | Assembly Hall Champaign, IL |
| Feb 6, 2002 | | at Northwestern | L 49–61 | 13–9 (4–5) | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL |
| Feb 10, 2002 , CBS | | Ohio State | W 67–64 | 14–9 (5–5) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 12, 2002 | | Illinois | L 61–63 | 14–10 (5–6) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 16, 2002 | | at Purdue | W 62–59 | 15–10 (6–6) | Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN |
| Feb 21, 200 | | Minnesota | W 74–55 | 16–10 (7–6) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 24, 2002 , CBS | | No. 23 Indiana | W 57–54 | 17–10 (8–6) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 26, 2002 | | at No. 18 Ohio State | W 81–76 | 18–10 (9–6) | Value City Arena Columbus, OH |
| Mar 2, 2002 | | Iowa | W 93–79 | 19–10 (10–6) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2002 , ESPN2 | (5) | vs. (4) Indiana quarterfinals | L 56–67 | 19–11 (10–6) | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 15, 2002* , CBS | (10 E) | vs. (7 E) NC State First Round | L 58–69 | 19–12 | MCI Center Washington, DC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from Coaches' Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## 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 | Wk 19 | Final |
| AP | 15 | 13 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 17 | 13 | 19 | 25 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |

## Awards and honors

* Marcus Taylor – All-Big Ten First Team
* Marcus Taylor – USBWA All-District Team
* Adam Ballinger – All-Big Ten Third Team (Media)