MSU athletics sees success during break

By Pat Evans | Originally Published: 01/08/12 11:45pm |Modified: 01/08/12 11:55pm | No comments

Justin Wan | The State News

Senior quarterback Kirk Cousins celebrates with the Spartan fans. Cousins is the winninest quarterback in MSU history. The Spartans defeated the Georgia Bulldogs, 33-30, Monday afternoon at the Outback Bowl hosted in Raymond James Stadium at Tampa, Fla. after triple overtime. Justin Wan/The State News

While students were away for winter break, the MSU sports teams and athletes were hard at work.

Football
The football team continued its successful season with the first bowl win with head coach Mark Dantonio at the helm for MSU.

The No. 17 Spartans finished the season with an 11-3 record following their win against No. 16 Georgia in the Outback Bowl.

“We just beat one of the best teams in the country in a hostile crowd (and) could finish in the top 10 in the country — I think it’s a pretty special way to end it,” senior quarterback Kirk Cousins said following the win.

Although the season was over following Jan. 2’s game, fans weren’t done with the Spartans.
Jan. 5 All-American junior nose tackle Jerel Worthy held a press conference declaring for the 2012 NFL Draft and junior running back Edwin Baker announced his departure to the NFL a few days later.

Defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi was offered the same position at Texas A&M but decided to stay and continue building an elite program with Dantonio.

“I share the same feelings that our players and coaches have that there’s some unfinished business to take care of here,” Narduzzi said.

“We’re all driven to win the Big Ten Championship and win a Rose Bowl.”

Men’s Basketball
The MSU men’s basketball team won six games during the break, extending its win streak to 14, the longest such streak since the 1998-99 season.

The Spartans (14-2 overall, 3-0 Big Ten) finished their nonconference schedule with three wins before Christmas and started off the Big Ten schedule with a bang. Now ranked No. 10, MSU beat
No. 12 Indiana, No. 18 Wisconsin and Nebraska.

The overtime thriller at Wisconsin was the first win in Madison for head coach Tom Izzo since 2001.

The Spartans host Iowa 7 p.m. tomorrow at Breslin Center to welcome the Izzone back to school.

Women’s basketball
The MSU women’s basketball team went 4-1 over break, including a 1-1 during a trip to Mexico.
In Cancun, the Spartans (11-5, 3-0) throttled Colorado State 72-45 before losing to Pittsburgh by 10 points.

The Spartans then finished break by starting their Big Ten season with three wins against Indiana, Michigan and at No. 19 Penn State.

Hockey
The No. 15 MSU hockey team (11-9-2 overall, 6-7-1 CCHA) won its first game in the Great Lakes Invitational against Michigan Tech to play No. 16 Michigan in the finals.

The Spartans led for most of the game, but gave up a goal to tie in the last minute of regulation and lost to Michigan in overtime at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

“We’re obviously disappointed in the result, but we’re real proud of the effort of our team, and this experience will be an experience we’ll have to learn from and build on,” head coach Tom Anastos said.