1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	11–12 (6–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Gus Ganakas; Robert Nordmann;
Captain	Lee Lafayette
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1967–68 1969–70 →

1968–69 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 6 Purdue	13	–	1	.929	23	–	5	.821
No. 20 Illinois	9	–	5	.643	19	–	5	.792
Ohio State	9	–	5	.643	17	–	7	.708
Michigan	7	–	7	.500	13	–	11	.542
Northwestern	6	–	8	.429	14	–	10	.583
Minnesota	6	–	8	.429	12	–	12	.500
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	11	–	12	.478
Iowa	5	–	9	.357	12	–	12	.500
Wisconsin	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Indiana	4	–	10	.286	9	–	15	.375

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1968–69 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 fourth year as head coach of the Spartans. The Spartans finished the season 11–12, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.^[2]

The season marked the final season for head coach John Benington. Prior to the next season, on September 10, 1969, Benington suffered a heart attack and died after jogging at Jenison Fieldhouse at the age of 47.^[3] Ganakas, an assistant under Benington, was promoted to head coach for the season.^[3]

Previous season[edit]

The Spartans finished the 1967–68 season 12–12, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Roster and statistics[edit]

1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	Lloyd Ward	G	JR	5–10	4.3	1.3
12	Tim Bograkos	G	SO	6–1	5.8	1.7
14	Eddie Humphrey	G	SO	6–2		0.7
15	Steve Sizemore	F	SO	6–2		0.2
21	Rudy Benjamin	G	SO	6–3	7.7	2.6
24	John Holms	F	SR	6–4	3.1	2.0
25	Robert Gale	F	JR	6–5	3.1	2.4
31	Harrison Stepter	G	SR	6–3	9.2	4.0
32	Steve Kirkpatrick	G	JR	6–2		1.2
33	Paul Dean	G	SO	6–1	1.6	1.1
34	Tom Lick	C	SR	6–10	3.7	3.0
35	Lee Lafayette	C	SR	6–6	18.7	10.3
41	James Gibbons	F	JR	6–5	10.7	5.7
44	Ron Binge	F	JR	6–5	1.3	0.9
45	Bernie Copeland	F	SR	6–6	10.3	6.9

Source^[2]^[3]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 3, 1968*	Southwestern Louisiana	W 90–84	1–0	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 1968*	Western Michigan	W 86–71	2–0	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 7, 1969*	at Toledo	W 81–80	3–0	The Field House Toledo, OH
Dec 13, 1960*	Butler	W 70–60	4–0	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1968*	vs. No. 15 Western Kentucky	L 63–67	4–1	Chicago Stadium Chicago, IL
Dec 16, 1968*	at Nebraska	L 59–73	4–2	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, NE
Dec 27, 1968*	at St. John's ECAC Holiday Festival	L 51–61	4–3	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
Dec 28, 1968*	vs. No. 5 Villanova ECAC Holiday Festival	L 66–75	4–4	Madison Square Garden New York, NY
Jan 4, 1969	Northwestern	L 71–85	4–5 (0–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 7, 1969	Wisconsin	W 77–67	5–5 (1–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 14, 1969	at Iowa	L 76–77	5–6 (1–2)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
Jan 18, 1969	at No. 19 Northwestern	W 89–75	6–6 (2–2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 25, 1968	Michigan Rivalry	L 70–75	6–7 (2–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1969	at Indiana	L 76–79	6–8 (2–4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Feb 8, 1969	at Michigan Rivlary	W 86–82	7–8 (3–4)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 11, 1969*	at Notre Dame	W 71–59	8–8	Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center South Bend, IN
Feb 15, 1969	No. 8 Illinois	W 75–70	9–8 (4–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1969	Iowa	W 78–60	10–8 (5–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 22, 1969	at Wisconsin	L 64–76	10–9 (5–5)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Feb 25, 1969	No. 9 Purdue	L 72–74	10–10 (5–6)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 1, 1969	No. 14 Ohio State	W 85–72	11–10 (6–6)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1969	at No. 20 Illinois	L 57–71	11–11 (6–7)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Mar 8, 1969	at Minnesota	L 65–78	11–12 (6–8)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source^[4]^[3]

References[edit]

^ sports-reference.com 1968-69 Big Ten Conference Season Summary
^ ^a ^b "1968-69 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "16-17 Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
^ "1968-69 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1] sports-reference.com 1968-69 Big Ten Conference Season Summary

[SR_Overview-2] "1968-69 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 10, 2017.

[MSU_Media_Guide-3] "16-17 Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved April 16, 2022.

[4] "1968-69 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

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