1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1968–69 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 fourth year as head coach of the Spartans. The Spartans finished the season 11–12, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.^[2]

1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	11–12 (6–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Gus Ganakas Robert Nordmann
Captain	Lee Lafayette
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1967–68 1969–70 →

1968–69 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 6 Purdue	13	–	1		.929			23	–	5		.821
No. 20 Illinois	9	–	5		.643			19	–	5		.792
Ohio State	9	–	5		.643			17	–	7		.708
Michigan	7	–	7		.500			13	–	11		.542
Northwestern	6	–	8		.429			14	–	10		.583
Minnesota	6	–	8		.429			12	–	12		.500
Michigan State	6	–	8		.429			11	–	12		.478
Iowa	5	–	9		.357			12	–	12		.500
Wisconsin	5	–	9		.357			11	–	13		.458
Indiana	4	–	10		.286			9	–	15		.375
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The season marked the final season for head coach John Benington. Prior to the next season, on September 10, 1969, Benington suffered a heart attack and died after jogging at Jenison Fieldhouse at the age of 47.^[3] Ganakas, an assistant under Benington, was promoted to head coach for the season.^[3]

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1967–68 season 12–12, 6–8 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Roster and statistics

1968–69 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	Lloyd Ward	G	JR	5–10	4.3	1.3
12	Tim Bograkos	G	SO	6–1	5.8	1.7
14	Eddie Humphrey	G	SO	6–2		0.7
15	Steve Sizemore	F	SO	6–2		0.2
21	Rudy Benjamin	G	SO	6–3	7.7	2.6
24	John Holms	F	SR	6–4	3.1	2.0
25	Robert Gale	F	JR	6–5	3.1	2.4
31	Harrison Stepter	G	SR	6–3	9.2	4.0
32	Steve Kirkpatrick	G	JR	6–2		1.2
33	Paul Dean	G	SO	6–1	1.6	1.1
34	Tom Lick	C	SR	6–10	3.7	3.0
35	Lee Lafayette	C	SR	6–6	18.7	10.3
41	James Gibbons	F	JR	6–5	10.7	5.7
44	Ron Binge	F	JR	6–5	1.3	0.9
45	Bernie Copeland	F	SR	6–6	10.3	6.9

Source^[2][3]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Dec 3, 1968*		Southwestern Louisiana	W 90–84	1–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 1968*		Western Michigan	W 86–71	2–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 7, 1969*		at Toledo	W 81–80	3–0	The Field House  Toledo, OH
Dec 13, 1960*		Butler	W 70–60	4–0	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1968*		vs. No. 15 Western Kentucky	L 63–67	4–1	Chicago Stadium  Chicago, IL
Dec 16, 1968*		at Nebraska	L 59–73	4–2	Nebraska Coliseum  Lincoln, NE
Dec 27, 1968*		at St. John's ECAC Holiday Festival	L 51–61	4–3	Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
Dec 28, 1968*		vs. No. 5 Villanova ECAC Holiday Festival	L 66–75	4–4	Madison Square Garden  New York, NY
Jan 4, 1969		Northwestern	L 71–85	4–5 (0–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 7, 1969		Wisconsin	W 77–67	5–5 (1–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Jan 14, 1969		at Iowa	L 76–77	5–6 (1–2)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
Jan 18, 1969		at No. 19 Northwestern	W 89–75	6–6 (2–2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Jan 25, 1968		Michigan Rivalry	L 70–75	6–7 (2–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1969		at Indiana	L 76–79	6–8 (2–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Feb 8, 1969		at Michigan Rivlary	W 86–82	7–8 (3–4)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 11, 1969*		at Notre Dame	W 71–59	8–8	Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center  South Bend, IN
Feb 15, 1969		No. 8 Illinois	W 75–70	9–8 (4–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1969		Iowa	W 78–60	10–8 (5–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Feb 22, 1969		at Wisconsin	L 64–76	10–9 (5–5)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Feb 25, 1969		No. 9 Purdue	L 72–74	10–10 (5–6)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 1, 1969		No. 14 Ohio State	W 85–72	11–10 (6–6)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1969		at No. 20 Illinois	L 57–71	11–11 (6–7)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Mar 8, 1969		at Minnesota	L 65–78	11–12 (6–8)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. Source[4][3]