Nov. 29, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. -

#13/14 Michigan State (3-2)
vs. Georgia Tech (2-1)

Nov. 30, 2005
7 p.m. EST
East Lansing, Mich.
Breslin Center (14,759)

Radio: Spartan Sports Network - Will Tieman (Play by Play), Gus Ganakas (Color). Flagship - WMMQ 94.9 FM/WJIM 1240 AM
TV: ESPN - Brent Musburger (Play by Play), Steve Lavin (Color), Holly Rowe (Sidelines)

The Opening Tip
Michigan State is hosting Georgia Tech in the seventh-annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Spartans own a 3-2 record in the challenge and did have one game cancelled due to unplayable floor conditions. The Spartans are facing a Yellow Jacket squad that features five new starters from last season. MSU is in the middle of a stretch that will see it play eight games in 18 days between Nov. 19 and Dec. 6.

Michigan State Game Notes
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The Starting Five
Big Ten/ACC Challenge History - This is the seventh season of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Michigan State is 3-2 in the challenge and had its 2001 game against Virginia in Richmond cancelled due to unplayable wet floor conditions. The Spartans defeated North Carolina in 1999 (86-76 in Chapel Hill) and 2000 (77-64 in East Lansing) and topped Virginia, 82-75, in 2002 in East Lansing. MSU lost to Duke in each of the last two seasons, falling 72-50 in East Lansing in 2003 and 81-74 in Durham last year. The ACC has won the Commissioner's Cup in each of the past six seasons, although this will be the first season that all 11 Big Ten schools will participate.

MSU In November - Michigan State has an all-time record of 64-20 in games played in the month of November. This includes a 45-3 mark at home.

Davis Named POW - Paul Davis was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Nov. 28. In four games, the senior center averaged 22.5 points and 12.3 rebounds. MSU posted a 3-1 record on the week, falling only to Gonzaga, 109-106 in triple overtime. Davis recorded double-doubles in three of the four games. Coach Izzo was impressed with his performance, saying "I'm pleased with the way he's playing on all ends of the court and really excited about the leadership I think he's showing. He's made some giant strides."

The Big Three - Spartan seniors Maurice Ager and Paul Davis and junior Shannon Brown will carry a lot of the scoring load for Michigan State this season. Through five games, the trio has not disappointed, averaging a combined 58.8 points, or 70.8 percent, of MSU's 83.0 points per game.

Mr. Double-Double - With four double-doubles in the first five games of this season, Paul Davis has now recorded a double-double in 12 of the last 20 games. The only game this year in which he failed to tally a double-double came against Arizona, when he collected 18 points and nine rebounds. Davis elevated his level of play over the last two months of last season, recording a double-double in eight of the final 15 games, including the last four NCAA Tournament contests. His best effort might have come in the Sweet 16 when he out-scored (20 to 19) and out-rebounded (12 to 8) Duke's Shelden Williams. In the Final Four, against North Carolina's Sean May, Davis recorded a career-best 15 rebounds.

Georgia Tech Notes
Coach Hewitt - Paul Hewitt (St. John Fisher, '85) is 164-94 in his ninth season as a collegiate head coach, including 98-67 in six seasons at Georgia Tech. In 2004, Hewitt led Tech to the NCAA title game and was named the Fritz Pollard National Coach of the Year by the Black Coaches Association.

Yellow Jacket Notes - Georgia Tech lost all five starters off last year's 20-12 squad ... The Yellow Jackets' roster features one senior, one junior, five sophomores and four freshmen ... Tech is shooting just 24.4 percent from 3-point range, but its opponents are shooting just 22.7 percent.

Series History - Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 2-1. The two teams last met in the Sweet 16 of the 1990 NCAA Tournament, with the Yellow Jackets taking a controversial 81-80 victory in overtime. In the 1940s, the two teams played twice in East Lansing, splitting a pair of contests.

A Controversial Ending - Georgia Tech's 81-80 overtime victory over Michigan State in the Sweet 16 of the 1990 NCAA Tournament is still one of the more talked about games in Spartan history. After a back-and-forth contest, MSU held a 75-73 lead with five seconds remaining. Steve Smith was at the foul line, shooting a 1-and-1 with a chance to ice the game. He missed the front end and Kenny Anderson raced down the court and hit a 3-pointer as time expired. Officials conferred and decided Anderson's foot was on the line, sending the game into overtime. Video replay, however, also showed that Anderson's shot was after the buzzer and should not have counted. Tech went on to win in overtime behind Anderson's 31 points. Steve Smith paced MSU with 32 points.

Game 5 Notes - Michigan State 84 - IPFW 73
* Michigan State won its 29 consecutive home opener.
* Paul Davis recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 30 points and 14 rebounds, finishing just two points shy of his career high and one board short of his personal best.
* Maurice Ager opened the game shooting 0-for-6, but closed shooting 7-of-10, recording his 1,000th career point in the process. Sixteen of his 20 points came in 16 second-half minutes.
* Michigan State outscored IPFW, 42-12, in the paint and 14-3 in second chance points, but the Mastodons held a 36-18 advantage from behind the arc.
* IPFW opened the game on an 8-0 run (2:14) and closed on an 11-0 run (1:43). In between, MSU outscored IPFW 84-54.
* After trailing for the first 17:07 of the game, Michigan State took its first lead of the contest on a 3-point play by Goran Suton with 2:52 left in the half. It was part of a 12-0 run that turned a 28-24 deficit into a 36-28 lead.

EA SPORTS Maui Invitational Notes
* Paul Davis was the tournament's leading rebounder with 35 rebounds.
* Maurice Ager was the tournament's second-leading scorer with 79 points.
* Ager scored a career-best 36 points against Gonzaga, shooting 13-of-27 from the field and 7-of-17 from 3-point range.
* Michigan State's three-overtime game with Gonzaga was just the sixth triple-overtime game in school history.
* Drew Neitzel recorded a career-best eight assists against Chaminade.
* Davis averaged a double-double with 18.0 points and 11.5 boards per contest.
* Four Spartans (Ager - 37.3; Brown - 39.0; Davis - 36.3; Neitzel - 35.0) averaged 35 minutes or more for three straight days.
* The Spartans played a total of four overtimes against Gonzaga (3) and Arizona (1).
* Redshirt freshmen Goran Suton (7.0 rpg) and Marquise Gray (5.3 rpg) were the team's second- and third-leading rebounders, respectively.
* Michigan State shot 48.7 percent from the field, while holding its opponents to 41.9 percent.
* The Spartans had a rebound margin of +8.7 for the three games.

MSU Basketball Notes
Ager Hits 1,000 - With a free throw at the 16:26 mark, Maurice Ager became the 35th player in Michigan State history to score 1,000 career points. With 1,013 points, he joins Paul Davis (1,242 points) as current Spartans over 1,000. Three members of last year's team, Alan Anderson, Chris Hill and Kelvin Torbert, were all 1,000-point scorers. The next Spartan to reach the milestone should be Shannon Brown, who currently has 675 points.

Good To Be Back Home - It is a rarity for Michigan State to open the season with four games away from home. In fact, this is the first time since Tom Izzo's first season in 1995, when MSU played its first five games away from East Lansing, and just the fourth time in school history that the first four games have been played away from home. Since Izzo's first season, he has opened every other year at home until now. After the Georgia Tech contest, MSU will play its next three games away from the Breslin Center, making seven of the first nine games on the road.

Davis Is Streaking - Paul Davis has made 29 straight free-throw attempts. The streak started with his last free throw against Chaminade. The next day, he was a perfect 12-of-12 against Gonzaga. He followed that performance with a 10-of-10 effort against Arizona, including making two free throws with 30 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and converting on all six attempts in overtime. Against IPFW, Davis was 6-of-6 from the line.

It's Early, But ... - While it's impossible to project season statistics off just five games, a few Spartans are putting up impressive numbers in the early going. Maurice Ager is currently averaging 23.0 points per game. It's the best scoring average by a Spartan since Shawn Respert averaged 25.6 points as a senior in 1994-95. Paul Davis is currently averaging 12.0 rebounds, the best mark by a Spartan since Lindsay Hairston averaged 13.6 boards in 1973-74.

Climbing The Charts - Paul Davis is making his way up the Michigan State career scoring charts. He currently ranks tied for 19th in MSU history with 1,242 points. He needs 34 points to pass Quinton Brooks (1,275 points) and move into 18th place.

Freshmen Contributions - Eight Spartans are currently averaging more than 10 minutes per game. Of those eight, three are freshmen in Marquise Gray, Goran Suton and Travis Walton. A true freshman, Walton is the primary reserve in the backcourt averaging 22.0 minutes, 2.4 points and 3.8 assists, while playing strong defense. Gray and Suton are redshirt freshmen getting their first taste of college basketball games. Suton is the team's fifth-leading scorer at 6.8 points and the second-leading rebounder at 7.0 boards in 25.8 minutes per contest. In three games of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational, Suton averaged 7.3 points and 7.0 rebounds. Gray is averaging 3.4 points and 4.2 boards per game. He was a spark in the Spartans' win over Chaminade, scoring nine points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Big Ten Favorites - Michigan State was named the Big Ten preseason favorite at the league's media day on Oct. 30. The Spartans are followed by Illinois and Indiana in the poll. Paul Davis also earned a spot on the Preseason All-Big Ten squad.

Breslin Success - Michigan State has sold out 113 consecutive regular-season games at the Breslin Center. Since the start of the 1998-99 season, MSU has won 100 of its last 107 regular-season games in Breslin, a winning percentage of .935.

A High Octane Offense - Michigan State led the Big Ten and ranked 13th nationally in scoring offense, averaging 78.5 points per game. It was MSU's highest scoring-offense since the 1985-86 Spartans averaged 83.1 points. The Spartans return three of their top four scorers and a starting point guard to help key the attack.

MSU Is No. 1 - The Sporting News has tabbed Michigan State as its preseason No. 1 team, listing the Spartans' strengths as "two elite playmaking wings; size and skill at center; toughness." The publication also lists Maurice Ager as the No. 2 shooting guard in the nation and a second-team All-American. Paul Davis is the No. 4 center and Shannon Brown is ranked the No. 9 small forward. As a unit, the Spartan backcourt is ranked second in the nation.

An Offensive Threat - By his own admission, Drew Neitzel just tried to run the offense last season as a true freshman point guard and get the ball to the other weapons on the team. He recorded an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.1-to-1, but averaged just 3.5 points per game and attempted just 3.4 shots per contest. A prolific scorer in high school, Neitzel will look to score more this season. He is averaging 7.0 points and 6.8 shots per game.

Winning The Right Way - In addition to excelling on the court, the Spartans are standouts in the classroom. Seventeen Spartans have received their undergraduate degrees over the last six years, including five each in 2001 and 2003.

America's Best Backcourt - Lindy's College Basketball preseason magazine ranked Michigan State's backcourt the best in the nation: "The backcourt was solid enough to get the Spartans to the Final Four last season and that should be the case again in 2006. Shannon Brown and Maurice Ager will be the `wings' and either could be defined as a `shooting guard,' if you like to see players locked into position descriptions. They're both explosive enough to jump over the top or drive past any variety of defender. Drew Neitzel was solid the last half of the season as the team's playmaker and should be much improved as a sophomore."

Returning Talent - Michigan State lost three 1,000-point scorers from last year's squad, yet it returns four starters from the Final Four starting lineup, including 83 percent of its scoring and 76 percent of its rebounds from the National Semifinal game against North Carolina. Paul Davis was the NCAA Tournament's leading rebounder, averaging 11.6 boards per game. Shannon Brown was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Austin Regional, scoring a career-high 24 points against Kentucky. Maurice Ager was MSU's leading scorer during the regular season (14.1 ppg) and the NCAA Tournament (18.2 ppg) and scored a career-high tying 24 points against the Tar Heels. Drew Neitzel took over the starting duties in February and increased his productivity in the NCAA Tournament, raising his scoring average from 3.3 ppg in the regular season to 5.0 ppg in the tournament.

Another Tough Schedule - The Spartan schedule includes 10 teams that appeared in the 2005 NCAA Tournament, including six non-league opponents (Arizona, Boston College, Connecticut, Georgia Tech, Gonzaga and Kansas) and four league foes (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin).

Izzo's Busy Summer - In addition to the always-busy summer recruiting season, Coach Tom Izzo enjoyed a few unique opportunities. In July, he had the opportunity to play golf with Tiger Woods at the Buick Open Pro-Am, prompting Woods to say "he's a guy that if I was playing ball, he's the type of guy that I'd want to go play for.' In mid-August, Izzo was one of a select number of coaches at Michael Jordan's Senior Flight School. The summer closed with Izzo traveling to Kuwait to take part in "Operation Hardwood - Hoops With The Troops." Izzo was one of eight coaches and sports personalities coaching 13-member military basketball teams on Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, from Aug. 27-31. Camp Arifjan defeated the other bases to win the championship under the direction of Coach Izzo.

Spartans In The NBA - Listed below is an update on seven former Spartans currently on NBA rosters: (Stats through Nov. 25)

	Alan Anderson (Charlotte): 2 GP, 12.5 mpg, 4.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 2.0 apg
	Charlie Bell (Milwaukee): 10 GP, 8.3 mpg, 3.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.4 apg
	Mateen Cleaves (Seattle): 10 GP, 13.4 mpg, 5.6 ppg, 0.4 rpg, 2.4 apg
	Morris Peterson (Toronto): 13 GP, 8 GS, 30.7 mpg, 11.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.2 apg
	Zach Randolph (Portland): 10 GP, 10 GS, 37.3 mpg, 18.9 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.8 apg
	Jason Richardson (Golden State): 14 GP, 14 GS, 38.6 mpg, 22.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.1 apg
	Eric Snow (Cleveland): 12 GP, 12 GS, 26.5 mpg, 3.8 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 4.0 apg