March 29, 2023: The 2022-23 MSU men's basketball season was a strange one in that it was marked by consistently inconsistent play. After a fast and very promising start against top rated Gonzaga, Kentucky, and Villanova, the injury bug hit MSU as Jaden Akins was shut down a second time (he had foot surgery before the start of the season) and Malik Hall suffered the same stress reaction injury in his foot which sidelined him for a number of weeks. MSU limped through the non-conference schedule with a loss to Alabama and wins over Oregon and Portland in the PK85 before getting destroyed in South Bend on what we can only assume were tired legs.

Big Ten play did not start out well as Michigan State fell on their home opener to Northwestern who turned out to be a pretty good team. In what became one very impressive trait for the team, they bounced back and won a road game against Penn State as they showed the ability to repeatedly get off the mat whenever they got knocked down. Big Ten play resumed after a few easy home non-conference games with a decent start until Malik Hall reinjured his foot and was forced to miss some time again. By this time, Akins had recovered and was starting to play more but the Spartans were playing good defense but struggling to score.

It wasn't until the end of the season before they got the offense humming just in time for the post season play. Unfortunately, they were unable to carry that over into the Big Ten Tournament where they continued playing the same leaky defense as at the end of the regular season leading to a loss in the opening round to Ohio State.

Fortunately, MSU put it together and played their best basketball of the season in the NCAA tournament and as a 7 seed defeated a tough 10 seed USC Trojans. They beat USC and second round opponent, Marquette, despite their worst 3 point shooting performances of the year on the backs of good defense and attacking the rim. Then, in the Sweet 16 the Spartans fell in overtime to Kansas State in one of the most entertaining games of the tournament.

Are you looking for Spartan gear? There’s only one place to go to get your MSU T-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts — Nudge Printing. Nudge is owned and operated by Gabe and Brittany, two MSU alums. The business is operated out of Michigan and screen prints super high quality products. They also have a large assortment of apparel for other schools as well as stickers for your wall, car, or computer. You can also buy our merchandise to sport around town where all the sales proceeds go to support the show.

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