1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Lobo Classic champions; Spartan Cutlass Classic champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 18
Record	23–8 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (10th season);
Assistant coaches	Tom Izzo; Mike Deane; Herb Williams;
Captains	Scott Skiles; Larry Polec;
Home arena	Jenison Field House

1985–86 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 5 Michigan	14	–	4	.778	28	–	5	.848
No. 16 Indiana	13	–	5	.722	21	–	8	.724
No. 18 Michigan State	12	–	6	.667	23	–	8	.742
No. 19 Illinois	11	–	7	.611	22	–	10	.688
Purdue	10	–	8	.556	22	–	10	.688
Iowa	10	–	8	.556	20	–	12	.625
Ohio State	8	–	10	.444	19	–	14	.576
Minnesota	5	–	13	.278	15	–	16	.484
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	12	–	16	.429
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	8	–	20	.286

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played their home games at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They were coached by Jud Heathcote in his 10th year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with a record of 23–8, 12–6 to finish in third place in Big Ten play. The Spartans received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year.

As the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region, they defeated Washington and Georgetown to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they lost to No. 1-seeded Kansas in Kemper Arena in Kansas City. The game was marred by a time-clock error at the 2:21 mark. With Michigan State leading 76-72, the game was started while the clock did not run, which would extend the game by 15 seconds, despite protests by Heathcote. Kansas would end up winning when they tied the game with 9 seconds remaining in regulation, and then won in overtime, 96-86. ^[1]^[2] The NCAA rules official called it the "most blatant timing error" he had seen in 20 years, adding "they blew it." Kemper Arena upgraded the arena clock after the season. ^[3]

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1984–85 season with a record of 19–10, 10–8 to finish in fifth place in Big Ten play. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed. There they lost to UAB in the first round.

Roster and statistics

1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
4	Scott Skiles	G	SR	6–1	27.4	4.4	6.5
13	Darryl Johnson	G	JR	6–2	16.6	3.3	4.0
23	Vernon Carr	F/G	JR	6–6	13.8	5.4	0.7
35	Larry Polec	F	SR	6–8	10.7	5.7	1.6
45	Carlton Valentine	F	SO	6–6	6.0	3.2	0.2
42	Todd Wolfe	G/F	FR	6–5	4.0	1.0	0.0
15	Ralph Walker	F	SR	6–8	2.8	2.8	0.4
40	Barry Fordham	C/F	JR	6–8	2.8	3.7	0.4
24	Mark Brown	G	FR	6–0	2.3	0.5	0.8
34	David Mueller	F/C	FR	6–9	2.1	1.2	0.0
44	Scott Sekal	F	FR	6–8	2.0	0.6	0.0
00	Keith Hill	G	FR	6–4	2.0	0.0	1.0
55	Mario Izzo	C	FR	6–11	0.5	1.1	0.0
30	Jim Sarkine	F	FR	6–9	0.3	0.4	0.1
22	Andre Rison	G	FR	6–0	0.0	0.2	0.7

Source^[4]^[5]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 23, 1985*		Western Illinois	W 98–63	1–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Nov 26, 1985*		Maine	W 89–58	2–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1986*		Central Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic semifinals	W 103–60	20–6	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Nov 30, 1985*		Western Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic championship	W 84–64	3–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 4, 1985*		George Washington	W 87–61	4–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 1985*		Canisius	W 90–61	5–0	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1985*		at Iowa State	L 80–82 ^OT	5–1	James H. Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA
Dec 21, 1985*		Illinois-Chicago	W 99–74	6–1	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Dec 27, 1985*		vs. Massachusetts Lobo Classic semifinals	W 93–45	7–1	The Pit/University Arena Albuquerque, NM
Dec 28, 1985*		at New Mexico Lobo Classic championship	W 76–61	8–1	The Pit/University Arena Albuquerque, NM
Big Ten regular season
Jan 2, 1986		at Ohio State	L 73–84	8–2 (0–1)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Jan 5, 1986		at No. 15 Indiana	W 77–74	9–2 (1–1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN
Jan 9, 1986		No. 20 Purdue	L 83–88	9–3 (1–2)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 12, 1986		No. 18 Illinois	W 58–51	10–3 (2–2)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 16, 1986		at Iowa	L 71–82	10–4 (2–3)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA
Jan 18, 1986		at Minnesota	L 71–76	10–5 (2–4)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Jan 25, 1986		No. 6 Michigan Rivalry	W 91–79	11–5 (3–4)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Jan 30, 1986		Wisconsin	W 83–81	12–5 (4–4)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1986		Northwestern	W 97–69	13–5 (5–4)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 6, 1986		at Illinois	W 84–80	14–5 (6–4)	Assembly Hall Champaign, IL
Feb 8, 1986		at Purdue	L 82–88	14–6 (6–5)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN
Feb 13, 1986		Iowa	W 83–73	15–6 (7–5)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 15, 1986		Minnesota	W 76–66	16–6 (8–5)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Feb 20, 1986	No. 19	No. 7 Michigan Rivalry	W 74–59	17–6 (9–5)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 27, 1986	No. 17	at Northwestern	W 82–48	18–6 (10–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Mar 2, 1986	No. 17	at Wisconsin	W 84–71	19–6 (11–5)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Mar 5, 1986	No. 17	No. 16 Indiana	L 79–97	20–7 (11–6)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
Mar 8, 1986	No. 17	Ohio State	W 91–81	21–7 (12–6)	Jenison Field House East Lansing, MI
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (12 MW) Washington First Round	W 72–70	22–7	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
Mar 15,1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (4 MW) No. 13 Georgetown Second Round	W 80–68	23–7	University of Dayton Arena Dayton, OH
Mar 21, 1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Kansas Sweet Sixteen	L 86–96 ^OT	23–8	Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time^[6]^[7].

Awards and honors

Scott Skiles – All-Big Ten First Team

References

^ "MSU vs. Kansas, March 1986 (1)". March 22, 1986. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.
^ "MSU vs. Kansas, March 1986 (2)". March 22, 1986. p. 19 – via newspapers.com.
^ "MSU vs. Kansas Clock Error, March 1986". March 28, 1986. p. 23 – via newspapers.com.
^ "1985-86 Michigan State Spartans Men's Roster and Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ "2015-2016 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2018.
^ "1985-86 Michigan State Spartans Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ "Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan". Newspapers.com. November 30, 1985.

[1] "MSU vs. Kansas, March 1986 (1)". March 22, 1986. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.

[2] "MSU vs. Kansas, March 1986 (2)". March 22, 1986. p. 19 – via newspapers.com.

[3] "MSU vs. Kansas Clock Error, March 1986". March 28, 1986. p. 23 – via newspapers.com.

[4] "1985-86 Michigan State Spartans Men's Roster and Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[15-16_Media_Guide-5] "2015-2016 Michigan State Spartans Media Guide" (PDF). Michigan State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 8, 2018.

[6] "1985-86 Michigan State Spartans Men's Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[7] "Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan". Newspapers.com. November 30, 1985.

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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 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 2025–26
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics