1981–82 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1981–82 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1981–82 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	12–16 (7–11 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (6th season);
Assistant coaches	Frank Rourke; John Holms; William Norton;
Captains	Kurt James; Kevin Smith;
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1980–81 1982–83 →

1981–82 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 Minnesota	14	–	4	.778	23	–	6	.793
No. 16 Iowa	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Ohio State	12	–	6	.667	21	–	10	.677
Indiana	12	–	6	.667	19	–	10	.655
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	18	–	14	.563
Illinois	10	–	8	.556	18	–	11	.621
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	11	–	17	.393
Michigan	6	–	12	.333	7	–	20	.259
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296
Wisconsin*	1	–	17	.056	4	–	23	.148

Rankings from AP Poll *Wisconsin forfeited all games after Jan 25, 1982 due to NCAA sanctions. Disputed record (3–15, 6–23)

The 1981–82 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1981–82 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Jud Heathcote in his sixth year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with a record of 11–17, 6–12 to finish in a tie for seventh place in Big Ten play.

Due to NCAA sanctions against Wisconsin for providing improper benefits for players,^[1] MSU's official record for the year is 12–16, 7–11.

Previous season[edit]

The Spartans finished the 1980–81 season 13–14, 7–11 in Big Ten play to finish in eighth place in conference.

Roster and statistics[edit]

1981–82 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
5	Kevin Smith	G	SR	6–2	15.6	2.1	4.5
10	Tim Gore	G	SO	6–4	0.4	0.0	0.0
11	Sam Vincent	G	FR	6–2	11.7	2.8	3.1
20	Ben Tower	F	SO	6–8	5.4	4.6	0.8
22	Bill Cawood	F	JR	6–7	0.5	0.4	0.2
23	Randy Morrison	G	SO	6–2	5.0	1.5	1.6
24	Richard Mudd	F	SO	6–9	3.3	1.9	0.2
30	Kurt James	F	SR	6–7	1.5	3.2	0.3
35	Larry Polec	F	FR	6–8
41	Derek Perry	F	JR	6–6	8.6	5.4	1.4
42	Kevin Willis	C	SO	7–0	6.0	4.2	0.1
43	Evaristo Perez	F			2.0	1.6	0.2
44	Herb Bostic	G	JR	6–4	1.0	0.7	0.1
50	Cleveland Bibbens	F	SO	6–6	2.8	1.9	0.3
52	Steve Bates	C	SR	6–10	0.5	0.8	0.0

Source^[2]^[3]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 27, 1981*	Central Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic semifinals	W 89–70	1–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Nov 28, 1981*	Western Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic finals	L 79–83	1–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 2, 1981*	at Detroit Mercy	W 65–62	2–1	Calihan Hall Detroit, MI
Dec 5, 1981*	at Kansas	L 56–74	2–2	Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, KS
Dec 12, 1981*	Cincinnati	L 45–56	2–3	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 15, 1981*	Green Bay	W 49–48	3–3	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 19, 1981*	Marshall	W 101–82	4–3	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 27, 1981*	vs. No. 20 North Carolina State Rainbow Classic quarterfinals	L 46–67	4–4	Neil S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 28, 2016*	vs. Cal State Fullerton Rainbow Classic consolation	W 51–50	5–4	Neil S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 29, 1981*	at Hawaii	L 61–62	5–5	Neil S. Blaisdell Center Rainbow Classic fifth place game
Big Ten regular season
Jan 7, 1982	Indiana	W 65–58	6–5 (1–0)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 9, 1982	No. 6 Minnesota	L 58–64	6–6 (1–1)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 14, 1982	at Purdue	L 47–53	6–7 (1–2)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Jan 16, 1982	at Illinois	L 51–55	6–8 (1–3)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Jan 21, 1982	at Michigan Rivalry	W 64–62	7–8 (2–3)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 23, 1982	Wisconsin	W 68–58	8–8 (3–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 28, 1982	No. 6 Iowa	L 56–57	8–9 (3–4)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 30, 1982	Northwestern	W 64–61	9–9 (4–4)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 1982	at Ohio State	L 49–50	9–10 (4–5)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Feb 6, 1982	at Northwestern	L 43–48	9–11 (4–6)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 11, 1982	Michigan Rivalry	W 66–55	10–11 (5–6)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 13, 1982	Ohio State	L 46–51	10–12 (5–7)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1982	at No. 7 Iowa	L 53–59	10–13 (5–8)	Iowa Fieldhouse Iowa City, IA
Feb 20, 1982	at Wisconsin	L 60–65	10–14 (5–9)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Feb 25, 1982	Illinois	W 56–47	11–14 (6–9)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 27, 1982	Purdue	L 49–51	11–15 (6–10)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1982	at No. 7 Minnesota	L 51–54	11–16 (6–11)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Mar 6, 1982	Indiana	L 58–74	11–17 (6–12)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source^[4]^[5].

Awards and honors[edit]

Kevin Smith – All-Big Ten First Team

Source^[6]

References[edit]

^ "NCAA punishes Yoder, Wisconsin basketball (July 18, 1986)". Retrieved August 30, 2017.
^ "1981-82 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
^ "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
^ "1981-82 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
^ "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.

[1] "NCAA punishes Yoder, Wisconsin basketball (July 18, 1986)". Retrieved August 30, 2017.

[2] "1981-82 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 6, 2016.

[3] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.

[4] "1981-82 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[5] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.

[6] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 media guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2017.

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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