1967–68 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1967–68 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1967–68 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	12–2 (6–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Robert Nordmann; Gus Ganakas;
Captain	Matthew Aitch
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1966–67 1968–69 →

1967–68 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Ohio State	10	–	4	.714	21	–	8	.724
Iowa	10	–	4	.714	16	–	9	.640
Purdue	9	–	5	.643	15	–	9	.625
Northwestern	8	–	6	.571	13	–	10	.565
Wisconsin	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	12	–	12	.500
Illinois	6	–	8	.429	11	–	13	.458
Michigan	6	–	8	.429	11	–	13	.458
Indiana	4	–	10	.286	10	–	14	.417
Minnesota	4	–	10	.286	7	–	17	.292

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1967–68 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1967–68 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 John E. Benington in his third year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 12–2, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Previous season[edit]

The Spartans finished the 1966–67 season 16–7, 10–4 in Big Ten play to finish tied for the Big Ten championship. However, Indiana was selected for the NCAA tournament.

Roster and statistics[edit]

1967–68 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	Lloyd Ward	G	SO	5–9	2.3	0.7
12	John Bailey	G	SR	6–0	10.1	2.7
13	Thomas Steenken	G	SO	6–1	0.0	0.7
14	Richie Jordan	G	JR	5–7	3.0	4.0
15	Steven Rymal	G	SR	6–1	7.0	2.5
21	James O'Brien	G	SR	6–3	–	–
23	Vernon Johnson	G	JR	5–11	1.3	0.7
24	John Holmes	F	JR	6–4	1.5	2.2
25	Robert Gale	F	SO	6–5	1.6	1.5
31	Harrison Stepter	G	JR	6–2	9.6	3.1
32	Steven Kirkpatrick	G	SO	6–2	1.2	–
33	Heywood Edwards	F	SR	6–6	9.7	6.2
34	Tom Lick	C	JR	6–10	3.8	3.7
35	Lee Lafayette	F	JR	6–6	16.8	10.5
41	James Gibbons	C	SO	6–6	6.3	3.6
42	Gerald Geistler	C	SR	6–8	0.5	1.3
44	Ron Binge	F	SO	6–5	2.0	0.5
43	Bernie Copeland	F	JR	6–6	7.0	6.9

Source^[1]^[2]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1967*	Cal State Fullerton	W 80–49	1–0	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 12, 1967*	at Western Michigan	W 78–67	2–0	University Arena Kalamazoo, MI
Dec 14, 1967*	at Butler	L 55–65	2–1	Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
Dec 16, 1967*	Hardin-Simmons	W 95–76	3–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1967*	Nebraska	W 74–70	4–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 23, 1967*	Wichita State	L 80–90	4–2	Levitt Arena Wichita, KS
Dec 29, 1967*	vs. No. 9 Vanderbilt Sugar Bowl Tournament	L 63–73	4–3	The Field House New Orleans, LA
Dec 30, 1967*	vs. Memphis State Sugar Bowl Tournament	L 57–73	4–4	The Field House New Orleans, LA
Jan 6, 1968	at Illinois	L 56–66	4–5 (0–1)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Jan 13, 1968	at Michigan Rivalry	W 86–81	5–5 (1–1)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 16, 1968	at Wisconsin	L 68–70	5–6 (1–2)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Jan 20, 1968	Northwestern	W 75–62	6–6 (2–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 23, 1968	Iowa	L 71–76	6–7 (2–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 27, 1968*	at Southern Illinois	W 68–56	7–7	The SIU Arena Carbondale, IL
Jan 30, 1968*	Notre Dame	W 89–57	8–7	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 3, 1968	Michigan	W 82–77	9–7 (3–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 10, 1968	at Ohio State	L 62–90	9–8 (3–4)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Feb 17, 1968	at Northwestern	L 61–69	9–9 (3–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 20, 1968	Indiana	W 75–70	10–9 (4–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 24, 1968	Wisconsin	W 87–77	11–9 (5–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 27, 1968	at Iowa	L 58–76	11–10 (5–6)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA
Mar 2, 1968	Minnesota	L 68–75	11–11 (5–7)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 5, 1968	at Purdue	L 75–93	11–12 (5–8)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Mar 9, 1968	Illinois	W 62–59	12–12 (6–8)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source^[3]^[2]

References[edit]

^ "1967-68 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
^ "1967-68 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1] "1967-68 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

[MG-2] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[3] "1967-68 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

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v t e Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Venues	Armory (1899–1918) IM Circle (1918–1930) Demonstration Hall (1930–1940) Jenison Fieldhouse (1940–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic "The Flintstones" Izzone Michigan State University student riots
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024-25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics