1966–67 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1966–67 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1966–67 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 John E. Benington in his second year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 16–7, 10–4 in Big Ten play to finish tied for the Big Ten championship. However, Indiana was selected for the NCAA tournament.

1966–67 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Big Ten Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	16–7 (10–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Robert Nordmann Gus Ganakas
Captain	Matthew Aitch
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1965–66 1967–68 →

1966–67 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Michigan State	10	–	4		.714			16	–	7		.696
Indiana	10	–	4		.714			18	–	8		.692
Iowa	9	–	5		.643			16	–	8		.667
Wisconsin	8	–	6		.571			15	–	9		.625
Purdue	7	–	7		.500			15	–	9		.625
Northwestern	7	–	7		.500			11	–	11		.500
Ohio State	6	–	8		.429			13	–	11		.542
Illinois	6	–	8		.429			12	–	12		.500
Minnesota	5	–	9		.357			9	–	15		.375
Michigan	2	–	12		.143			8	–	16		.333
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1965–66 season 16–7, 10–4 in Big Ten play to finish in second place.

Roster and statistics

1966–67 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	John Gorman	G	SR	5–11	1.0	1.0
12	John Bailey	G	JR	6–0	8.0	2.5
13	Edward "Ted" Cary	F	ST	6–5	2.1	2.2
14	Richie Jordan	G	SO	5–7	2.2	1.1
15	Steven Rymal	G	JR	6–1	11.4	4.7
21	James O'Brien	G	JR	6–3	0.6	–
22	Richard Chappel	G	SO	5–10	0.0	0.5
23	Vernon Johnson	G	SO	5–11	1.5	0.5
24	John Holms	F	SO	6–4	4.2	3.8
31	Shannon Reading	G	SR	6–0	5.4	1.5
32	Jack Wynn	C	JR	6–7	–	–
33	Heywood Edwards	F	JR	6–5	7.4	5.7
34	Tom Lick	C	SO	6–10	0.7	1.8
35	Lee Lafayette	F	SO	6–6	14.8	9.7
41	Arthur Baylor	F	JR	6–6	5.1	5.1
42	Gerald Geistler	C	JR	6–8	1.0	2.3
44	David Keeler	F	SR	6–6	1.3	2.0
45	Matthew Atich	C	SR	6–7	16.3	9.2

Source^[1][2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 1, 1966*		Western Michigan	W 77–55	1–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 3, 1966*		Miami (Ohio)	W 63–51	2–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 5, 1966*		South Dakota	W 81–54	3–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 5, 1966*		Wichita State	W 103–68	4–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1966*	No. 5	at Loyola (LA) Sugar Bowl Tournament	L 70–74	4–1	The Field House  New Orleans, LA
Dec 21, 1966*	No. 5	at Tulane Sugar Bowl Tournament	W 76–66	5–1	Avron B. Fogelman Arena  New Orleans, LA
Dec 27, 1966*	No. 10	vs. Villanova Quaker City Tournament	L 63–66	5–2	The Palestra  Philadelphia, PA
Dec 28, 1966*	No. 10	vs. Bowling Green Quaker City Tournament	L 67–75	5–3	The Palestra  Philadelphia, PA
Jan 7, 1967		at Illinois	W 76–74	6–3 (1–0)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Jan 14, 1967		Iowa	W 79–70	7–3 (2–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 21, 1967		at Michigan Rivalry	L 59–81	7–4 (2–1)	Yost Field House  Ann Arbor, MI
Jan 28, 1967		Wisconsin	W 68–61	8–4 (3–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1967*		at Notre Dame	W 85–80 OT	9–4	Notre Dame Fieldhouse  South Bend, IN
Feb 6, 1967		at Indiana	L 77–82	9–5 (3–2)	Gladstein Fieldhouse  Bloomington, IN
Feb 11, 1967		at Purdue	W 79–77	10–5 (4–2)	Lambert Fieldhouse  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 13, 1967		Indiana	W 86–77	11–5 (5–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1967		Minnesota	W 67–66	12–5 (6–2)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 20, 1967		at Ohio State	L 64–80	12–6 (6–3)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Feb 25, 1967		at Wisconsin	L 64–68	12–7 (6–4)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Feb 27, 1967		Ohio State	W 74–63	13–7 (7–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1967		Purdue	W 75–71	14–7 (8–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 6, 1967		at Minnesota	W 67–59	15–7 (9–4)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Mar 11, 1967		Northwestern	W 79–65	16–7 (10–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source[3][2]