1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1977–78 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 second-year head coach, Jud Heathcote. MSU finished the season 25–5, 15–3 in Big Ten play to win the Big Ten Championship. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they defeated Providence and Western Kentucky before losing to Kentucky in the Mideast Regional Final. The team was led by freshman Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Gregory Kelser.

1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Big Ten champions Old Dominion Classic champions
NCAA Tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 4
Record	25–5 (15–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Bill Berry Don Monson Robert McGriff
Captains	Robert Chapman Greg Kelser
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons ← 1976–77 1978–79 →

1977–78 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 4 Michigan State	15	–	3		.833			25	–	5		.833
No. 13 Indiana	12	–	6		.667			21	–	8		.724
Minnesota	12	–	6		.667			17	–	10		.630
Michigan	11	–	7		.611			16	–	11		.593
Purdue	11	–	7		.611			16	–	11		.593
Ohio State	9	–	9		.500			16	–	11		.593
Illinois	7	–	11		.389			13	–	14		.481
Iowa	5	–	13		.278			12	–	15		.444
Northwestern	4	–	14		.222			8	–	19		.296
Wisconsin	4	–	14		.222			8	–	19		.296
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1976–77 season with a record of 10–17, 7–11 to finish in fifth place in Big Ten play.

Roster and stats

1977–78 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
32	Gregory Kelser	F	JR	6–7	17.7	9.1	1.3
33	Earvin Johnson	F	FR	6–8	17.0	7.9	7.4
44	Robert Chapman	G	SR	6–2	12.3	2.7	2.0
31	Jay Vincent	C	FR	6–8	11.3	3.7	1.0
15	Ron Charles	F	SO	6–7	6.3	1.4	0.3
11	Terry Donnelly	G	SO	6–2	6.0	1.4	2.4
12	Mike Brkovich	G	FR	6–4	2.3	0.6	0.7
43	Sten Feidrech	C	FR	7–0	1.6	1.9	0.4
45	James Couture	C	SR	6–9	1.8	1.2	0.0
25	Alfred Brown	G	SR	6–6	1.4	1.0	0.3
24	Len Williams	G	SO	6–0	2.2	0.4	0.4
21	Donald Flowers	G	SR	6–2	1.0	0.1	0.0
41	Dan Riewald	G	SR	6–5	0.5	0.8	0.2
22	Nate Philips	G	SR	6–4	0.0	0.3	0.3
23	Mike Longaker	G	SO	6–1	0.0	0.0	0.0
42	Rick Kaye	G	FR	6–7	0.0	0.0	0.0

Source^[1][2]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 28, 1977*		Central Michigan	W 68–61	1–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec. 2, 1977*		vs. Rhode Island Carrier Classic	W 92–64	2–0	Manley Field House  Syracuse, NY
Dec 3, 1977*		at No. 12 Syracuse Carrier Classic	L 67–75	2–1	Manley Field House  Syracuse, NY
Dec 8, 1977*		Wichita State	W 84–57	3–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 10, 1977*		Western Michigan	W 79–57	4–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 19, 1977*		Middle Tennessee	W 72–51	5–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 21, 1977*		at No. 15 Detroit Mercy	W 103–74	6–1	Calihan Hall  Detroit, MI
Dec 29, 1977*		vs. SMU Old Dominion Classic semifinal	W 95–69	7–1	Norfolk Scope  Norfolk, VA
Dec 30, 1977*		vs. New Hampshire Old Dominion Classic championship	W 102–65	8–1	Norfolk Scope  Norfolk, VA
Big Ten regular season
Jan 5, 1978	No. 18	Minnesota	W 87–83	9–1 (1–0)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 7, 1978	No. 18	at Wisconsin	W 74–63	10–1 (2–0)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 12, 1978	No. 12	at Illinois	W 82–70	11–1 (3–0)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Jan 14, 1978	No. 12	Northwestern	W 67–63	12–1 (4–0)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Jan 19, 1978	No. 10	Purdue	W 60–51	13–1 (5–0)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 21, 1978	No. 10	Iowa	W 68–58	14–1 (6–0)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 26, 1978	No. 7	at Ohio State	W 70–60	15–1 (7–0)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Jan 28, 1978	No. 7	at Indiana	L 58–59	15–2 (7–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Feb 2, 1979	No. 7	Michigan Rivalry	L 63–65	15–3 (7–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 1978	No. 10	Indiana	W 68–59	16–3 (8–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 9, 1978	No. 10	at Iowa	W 71–70	17–3 (9–2)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
Feb 11, 1978	No. 10	at Michigan Rivalry	W 73–62	18–3 (10–2)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 16, 1978	No. 10	at Purdue	L 80–99	18–4 (10–3)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 18, 1978	No. 10	Ohio State	W 66–56	19–4 (11–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 23, 1978	No. 10	Northwestern	W 66–56	20–4 (12–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 25, 1978	No. 10	Illinois	W 89–67	21–4 (13–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 2, 1978	No. 9	at Wisconsin	W 89–75	22–4 (14–3)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Mar 4, 1978	No. 9	at Minnesota	W 71–70	23–4 (15–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
NCAA Tournament
Mar 11, 1978*	No. 6	vs. Providence First Round	W 77–63	24–4	Market Square Arena  Indianapolis, IN
Mar 16, 1978*	No. 4	vs. Western Kentucky Sweet Sixteen	W 90–69	25–4	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, OH
Mar 18, 1978*	No. 4	vs. No. 1 Kentucky Elite Eight	L 49–52	25–5	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, OH
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ME=MidEast Region. Source[3][2]

Awards and honors

• Earvin "Magic" Johnson – All-Big Ten First Team