1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1977–78 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Rankings from AP Poll)

Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Big Ten Regular Season Champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#5
AP	#4
1977–78 record	25-5 (15-3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote
Assistant coach	Bill Berry
Assistant coach	Don Monson
Assistant coach	Robert McGriff
Home arena	Breslin Center
« 1976–77	1978–79 »

The 1977–1978 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1977–78 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as members of the Big Ten Conference. They played their home games at Jenison Fieldhouse and were coached by second year head coach, Jud Heathcote. MSU finished the season with a record of 25–5, 15–3 to win the Big Ten Championship. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated Providence and Western Kentucky before losing to Kentucky in the Mideast Regional Final. The team was led by freshman Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Gregory Kelser.

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1976–77 season with a record of 10–17, 7–11 to finish in fifth place in Big Ten play.

Roster

1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
Name	Position	Summary
Gregory Kelser	F	17.7 Pts, 9.1 Reb, 1.3 Ast
Earvin Johnson	G	17.0 Pts, 7.9 Reb, 7.4 Ast
Bob Champman	G	12.3 Pts, 2.7 Reb, 2.0 Ast
Jay Vincent	C	11.3 Pts, 3.7 Reb, 1.0 Ast
Ron Charles	F	6.3 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Terry Donnelly	G	6.0 Pts, 1.4 Reb, 2.4 Ast
Mike Brkovich	G	2.3 Pts, 0.6 Reb, 0.7 Ast
Sten Feidrech	C	1.6 Pts, 1.9 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Jim Coutre	C	1.8 Pts, 1.2 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Alfred Brown	G	1.4 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Len Williams	G	2.2 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.4 Ast
Don Flowers	G	1.0 Pts, 0.1 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Dan Riewald	G	0.5 Pts, 0.8 Reb, 0.2 Ast
Nate Philips	G	0.0 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.3 Ast
Mike Longaker	G	0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Rick Kaye	F	0.0 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.0 Ast
Source^[1]

Schedule and results

Date Time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site City, State
Non-Conference Regular season
Nov 28, 1977*		Central Michigan	W 68–61	1–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec. 2, 1977*		vs. Rhode Island	W 92–64	2–0	Manley Field House Syracuse, NY
Dec 3, 1977*		at #12 Syracuse	L 67–75	2–1	Manley Field House Syracuse, NY
Dec 8, 1977*		Wichita State	W 84–57	3–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 10, 1977*		Western Michigan	W 79–57	4–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 19, 1977*		Middle Tennessee	W 72–51	5–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 21, 1977*		at #15 Detroit Mercy	W 103–74	6–1	Calihan Hall Detroit, MI
Dec 29, 1977*		vs. SMU	W 95–69	7–1	Norfolk Scope Norfolk, VA
Dec 30, 1977*		vs. New Hampshire	W 102–65	8–1	Norfolk Scope Norfolk, VA
Big Ten Regular season
Jan 5, 1978	#18	Minnesota	W 87–83	9–1 (1–0)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 7, 1978	#18	at Wisconsin	W 74–63	10–1 (2–0)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 12, 1978	#12	at Illinois	W 82–70	11–1 (3–0)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Jan 14, 1978	#12	Northwestern	W 67–63	12–1 (4–0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 19, 1978	#10	Purdue	W 60–51	13–1 (5–0)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 21, 1978	#10	Iowa	W 68–58	14–1 (6–0)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 26, 1978	#7	at Ohio State	W 70–60	15–1 (7–0)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Jan 28, 1978	#7	at Indiana	L 58–59	15–2 (7–1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Feb 2, 1979	#7	Michigan Rivalry	L 63–65	15–3 (7–2)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 1978	#10	Indiana	W 68–59	16–3 (8–2)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 9, 1978	#10	at Iowa	W 71–70	17–3 (9–2)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
Feb 11, 1978	#10	at Michigan Rivalry	W 73–62	18–3 (10–2)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 16, 1978	#10	at Purdue	L 80–99	18–4 (10–3)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Feb 18, 1978	#10	Ohio State	W 66–56	19–4 (11–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 23, 1978	#10	Northwestern	W 66–56	20–4 (12–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 25, 1978	#10	Illinois	W 89–67	21–4 (13–3)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Mar 2, 1978	#9	at Wisconsin	W 89–75	22–4 (14–3)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Mar 4, 1978	#9	at Minnesota	W 71–70	23–4 (15–3)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
NCAA Tournament
Mar 11, 1978*	#6	vs. Providence First Round	W 77–63	24–4	Market Square Arena Indianapolis, IN
Mar 16, 1978*	#4	vs. Western Kentucky Sweet Sixteen	W 90–69	25–4	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
Mar 18, 1978*	#4	vs. #1 Kentucky Elite Eight	L 49–52	25–5	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=MidEast Region. Source^[2]

References

[1] ttp://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/michigan-state/1978.html

[2] ttp://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/michigan-state/1978-schedule.html

[1]

[2]

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 student riots
People	Head coaches Retired numbers
Seasons	1898–99 1899–00 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 1999–00 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
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

Contents

Previous season

Roster

Schedule and results

References

Navigation menu

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

More

Search

Navigation

Tools

1977–78 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#4 Michigan State	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
#13 Indiana	12	–	6	.667	21	–	8	.724
Minnesota	12	–	6	.667	17	–	10	.630
Michigan	11	–	7	.611	16	–	11	.593
Purdue	11	–	7	.611	16	–	11	.593
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	16	–	11	.593
Illinois	7	–	11	.389	13	–	14	.481
Iowa	5	–	13	.278	12	–	15	.444
Northwestern	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	8	–	19	.296

Rankings from AP Poll)