1971–72 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1971–72 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1971–72 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	13–11 (6–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Gus Ganakas (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Robert Nordmann; Matthew Aitch;
Captains	Ronald Gutkowski; Patrick Miller;
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1970–71 1972–73 →

1971–72 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 11 Minnesota	11	–	3	.786	17	–	6	.739
No. 19 Ohio State	10	–	4	.714	18	–	6	.750
No. 17 Indiana	9	–	5	.643	17	–	8	.680
Michigan	9	–	5	.643	14	–	10	.583
Michigan State	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Wisconsin	6	–	8	.429	13	–	11	.542
Purdue	6	–	8	.429	12	–	12	.500
Illinois	5	–	9	.357	14	–	10	.583
Iowa	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Northwestern	3	–	11	.214	5	–	18	.217

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971–72 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1971–72 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as members of the Big Ten Conference. They played their home games at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Michigan and were coached by Gus Ganakas in his third year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 13–11, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for fifth place.

Previous season[edit]

The Spartans finished the 1970–71 season 10–14, 4–10 in Big Ten play, to finish in a tie for seventh place.

Roster and statistics[edit]

1971–72 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
10	Brad VanPelt	F	JR	6–5	1.2	1.2
11	Gary Ganakas	G	JR	5–5	4.8	2.3
15	John Benington	G	JR	6–1	0.4	–
21	Tery Fagan	G	SO	5–11	0.4	–
22	Bill Kilgore	C	JR	6–7	14.8	11.1
24	Ron Gutkowski	F	SR	6–6	3.3	2.3
25	Billy Joe DuPree	F	SR	6–4	1.0	–
31	Mike Robinson	G	SO	5–11	24.8	3.0
32	Jeff VanderLende	C	JR	6–7	–	–
34	Tyrone Lewis	G	SO	6–1	2.7	1.1
35	Pat Miller	G	SR	6–2	9.2	5.4
41	Allen Smith	F	JR	6–7	9.0	5.6
42	Brian Breslin	F	JR	6–5	8.0	5.5
44	Mike Ridley	F	SO	6–4	1.5	0.6
43	William Cohrs	C	SR	6–6	0.4	1.2

Source^[1]^[2]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1971*	at Missouri	L 67–77	0–1	Brewer Fieldhouse Columbia, MO
Dec 4, 1971*	South Alabama	W 87–72	1–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 11, 1971*	Western Michigan	W 66–65	2–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 13, 1971*	at No. 7 Kentucky	W 91–85	3–1	Memorial Coliseum Lexington, KY
Dec 17, 1971*	vs. Colorado State Volunteer Classic semifinals	W 67–63	4–1	Stokely Center Knoxville, TN
Dec 18, 1971*	at Tennessee Volunteer Classic championship	L 61–85	4–2	Stokely Center Knoxville, TN
Dec 20, 1971*	at Butler	W 77–71	5–2	Hinkle Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN
Dec 27, 1971*	vs. Texas A&M Bluebonnet Classic semifinals	W 67–65	6–2	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
Dec 28, 1971*	at Houston Bluebonnet Classic championship	L 73–106	6–3	Hofheinz Pavilion Houston, TX
Jan 8, 1972	at Michigan Rivalry	L 75–83	6–4 (0–1)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 11, 1972	Wisconsin	W 83–76	7–4 (1–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 18, 1972	at Northwestern	L 69–76	7–5 (1–2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Jan 22, 1972	No. 17 Minnesota	L 57–67	7–6 (1–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 29, 1972	Indiana	W 83–73	8–6 (2–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1972*	Notre Dame	W 98–74	9–6	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 5, 1972	at Indiana	L 69–83	9–7 (2–4)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Feb 8, 1972	Illinois	W 89–79	10–7 (3–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 12, 1972	at Iowa	W 100–91	11–7 (4–4)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
Feb 19, 1972	at Purdue	L 68–92	11–8 (4–5)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Feb 26, 1972	Iowa	L 98–102	11–9 (4–6)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 29, 1972	at Wisconsin	L 74–101	11–10 (4–7)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Mar 4, 1972	No. 16 Michigan	W 96–62	12–10 (5–7)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Mar 7, 1972	at Ohio State	L 73–92	12–11 (5–8)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Mar 11, 1972	Northwestern	W 57–54	13–11 (6–8)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source^[3]^[2]

References[edit]

^ "1971-72 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
^ "1971-72 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1] "1971-72 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

[MG-2] "Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2017.

[3] "1971-72 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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