Tag Archives: Brandon Wood

by | February 27, 2012 · 2:39 pm

Michigan State Spartans: Breaking Records and Taking Titles


Well where to begin? It was a good week for Michigan State basketball.

The now No. 5 Michigan State Spartans clobbered the undermanned Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday 62-34. Michigan State’s defense continues to dominate the opposition. The 34 points allowed is the fewest since Michigan State played Brown University when it opened up the 2006-2007 season. It was the least amount of points allowed in Big Ten play for the Spartans since the 1999-2000 championship season against when MSU played Northwestern. Finally for Nebraska, it was the lowest scoring effort since the shot clock was invented.

Senior forward Draymond Green joined an elite group of Spartans when he grabbed his 1,000 rebound of his career. Green joins Antonio Smith, Johnny Green, and Greg Kelser in the 1,000 rebound club, and has let Kelser know he is coming after his record of 1,092 rebounds.

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by | February 23, 2012 · 3:37 pm

Bringing The Wood: Brandon Wood Leads Michigan State Comeback Over Minnesota

Seniors Austin Thornton and Brandon Wood share a post game hug. (Photo Credit AP)

Senior Brandon Wood has been around a lot of colleges during his basketball career. His long journey has included playing for Southern Illinois, transferring to a division II school, transferring to Valparaiso University and finally ending it playing for the Michigan State Spartans.

While at Valparaiso Wood was the star and averaged over 17 points during his sophomore year, and 16 his junior year. Wood graduated and decided to test the NBA waters by putting his name in the draft, after hearing what scouts thought of him, he decided to polish them even more at MSU.

Wood has had a good season for MSU, he averages over 8 points a game, and while that’s less than he did at Valparaiso there is 10 times the talent on the MSU team, and Wood no longer needs to be the star. A few weeks ago Wood’s stepbrother was shot in the head. He survived but it was an emotional strain on Wood. A week later Wood faced more strain, coming in the form of a shoulder strain. Wood has since lost his starting spot, and is now equipped with a shoulder brace but that isn’t stopping him from becoming a force for the Spartans.

Under Tom Izzo,  and assistant coach Dane Fife, Wood has transformed into a defensive minded guard, something that the Valparaiso coaches would be shocked to see. Wood is rebounding well, and shutting down the opposition.

Last night the No. 6 Michigan State Spartans traveled to Minnesota in a key game with the Big Ten championship on the line. Down by as many as 9 points with under 10 minutes to play, Wood came off the bench and became the spark that the Spartan’s needed.

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by | February 20, 2012 · 2:45 pm

Spartan Team Effort Puts Down Purdue Boilermakers 76-62

Just like in the movie “300″ these Spartans banded together to make a stronger team. This was one of the most complete team performances this year from No. 7 Michigan State (22-5, 10-3) and Tom Izzo. Continue reading →

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by | · 2:35 pm

And1 Shoe Company Sponsors Michigan State Against Wisconsin

When No. 7 Michigan State hosted No. 15 Wisconsin last night, the announcers seemed to spend the whole game yelling “And one!”

At one point, Michigan State had four straight possessions that resulted in and-ones. By dominating Wisconsin throughout on their way to a 69-55 win, Michigan State demonstrated that they are just plain good and the shoe company And1 is yet again irrelevant.  Continue reading →

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by | February 12, 2012 · 4:54 pm

Jared Sullinger’s Payne: Michigan State Snaps Ohio State’s 39 Home Game Streak

Michigan State did something that no team has done since 2010.

Win at Ohio State.

The No. 12 ranked Spartans battered the No. 3 Buckeyes Saturday night to snap Ohio State’s 39 home-game winning streak. The streak was the second-longest in the nation, only behind Kentucky.

Ohio State center Jared Sullinger and Michigan State center Adreian Payne go way back. The two both grew up in Ohio and have been playing against each other ever since AAU.

It was a personal battle for Payne, who was playing in front of his home state. Payne played excellent defense on Sullinger, and it was clear that Sullinger was frustrated with the physical play by the Spartan defense.

Payne was a force for the Spartans on the offensive side of the ball as well, scoring a career-high 15 points. Sullinger was able to get his points with 17 and rebounds with 16, but the duo of Payne and Derrick Nix caused Sullinger to turn the ball over a career-high 10 times. Sullinger looked dazed on the offensive side and scored most of his points on easy put backs.

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by | February 7, 2012 · 1:08 pm

It’s Good To Be Green: Draymond Green Leads Michigan State Past Michigan

Draymond Green grabs one of his 16 rebounds against Michigan on Feb, 5 at the Breslin Center. (Photo Credit SB Nation Detroit)

Well that’s finally over.

Thank God.

The No. 10 Michigan State Spartans (18-5, 7-3) beat their in state rivals No. 21 Michigan Wolverines (17-7, 7-4) 64-54 on Sunday, Feb 5th.

The win ends a three game losing streak to the Wolverines, one less than the Spartans have over the Wolverines in football.

Senior forward Draymond Green had hurt his knee against Illinois a few days before the Spartans and Wolverines were set to battle, but Green wouldn’t let the knee injury keep him out from his last game against Michigan.

Green had his best career game against Michigan. The Saginaw native scored 14 points, dished out four assists, and single handedly out rebounded the entire Michigan Wolverines team 16 to 15.

After losing by one point to Michigan earlier this year, Green had sworn not to lose to them again.

“You can’t say something and not back up your words,” Green said. “I’d be less of a man to guarantee something, promise something and not come out here and do what I can to back up my word.”

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by | January 12, 2012 · 7:02 pm

Game Preview: No. 6 Michigan State Travels To Northwestern

Head coach Tom Izzo huddles with guards Travis Trice, and Brandon Wood

No. 6 Michigan State (15-2, 4-0) travels to Evanston on Saturday to play the Northwestern Wildcats (11-5, 1-3).

The Spartans haven’t lost since Nov. 15th. During that stretch the Spartans have won 15 straight games – the second best single season streak under Tom Izzo, only second to the 1999 streak of 22.

The Spartans are continuing a pleasant trend of being unselfish with the basketball.

The team ranks 14th in the nation with 16.8 assists per game.

Against Iowa, the Spartans passed the ball well and found the open man often. That led to MSU shooting 10/18 from three point range, a season best.

Northwestern is coming off two tough losses.

Against Illinois, guard Drew Crawford drove to the lane and attempted a game winning shot, only to have it blocked as time expired.

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by | January 11, 2012 · 3:53 am

Game Recap: No. 7 Michigan State Crushes Iowa 95-61

Michigan State celebrates during a team huddle

After Michigan State lost it’s first two opening games against #1 North Carolina on an aircraft carrier in front of the President Of The United States, and against #6 Duke in Madison Square Garden when Coach K was trying to become the winningest coach in college basketball history, the Spartans made a commitment to each other.

“We’ve gone from nothing to something,” sophomore guard Keith Appling said. “When we hung around against North Carolina and Duke, we made a commitment that we’re not going to lose any more.”

They were serious. The Spartans’ commitment holds strong as they haven’t lost in nearly 2 months.

No. 7 Michigan State (15-2, 4-0) crushed the Iowa Hawkeyes (10-8, 2-3) 95-61 on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center.

Five players from Michigan State scored in double figures during the rout.

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