Davidson basketball

GREENVILLE, SC - East Lansing is an 11 hour road trip to see the Michigan State Spartans play Davidson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Friday ...

Ticket prices change frequently as the week goes on. - SeatGeek tickets by clicking here(Starting at $159) GREENVILLE, SC - East Lansing is an 11 hour road trip to see the Michigan State Spartans play Davidson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this Friday at 9:40 p.m. ET. It’s a 90 minute flight.

Michigan State basketball has made the NCAA Tournament for the 24th consecutive time as they will face Davidson in the first round.

The Spartans are no stranger to this tournament but coming out of a few tough adversity-filled COVID-19 ridden seasons; this will be a chance to get back to some normalcy. Michigan State is coming off a nice run in the Big Ten Tournament as they made it to the semifinal as a #7-seed before falling to Purdue 75-70. Izzo will need to find a consistent scorer, though, if he wants to make another deep run.

Where is Davidson? The Davidson basketball team will play Michigan State in the NCAA tournament. Bob McKillop is Davidson's coach and Steph Curry played ...

Davidson fielded its first men’s basketball team in the 1907-08 season. In his third season, the Wildcats went 20-7. By 1993-94, Davidson had a 22-8 record and played in the NIT. Davidson is a picturesque little town in what has been a fast-growing part of the county. The next year, they finished 22-4, then 24-2 in 1964-65. The leading scorers, though, are guards Foster Loyer (16.7) and Hyunyung Lee (16.3). The idea is to relieve stress. In 1908-09, the Wildcats went 1-2. That player was Steph Curry, and it worked out pretty well for the Wildcats. His son Matt is the associated head coach. Davidson hired Bob McKillop, a highly successful high school coach on Long Island, for the 1989-90 season. And that history includes a magical run to the NCAA Elite Eight, 14 years ago, with tournament victories over (in order) Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.

It's Tom Izzo vs. Bob McKillop. Which veteran coach should you trust in Michigan State vs. Davidson?

That would make Michigan State the correct pick historically. Some will point to the fact that the Spartans are 18th in the country in 3-point percentage as a reason to trust them. That ranks 108th in the NCAA. If they need — or want — to take more 3s, they can. But McKillop has plenty of experience as well, and he brought a Stephen Curry-led Wildcats squad to the Elite Eight. Only three of their losses came against teams that failed to make the NCAA Tournament, and one of those teams, Dayton, was the first team out of the NCAA field. Davidson is an excellent offensive team; it averages 75.6 points per game, 58th-most in the country. He is presiding over one of the school's most successful seasons in recent memory. The Spartans began the season 14-2 and were considered one of the top teams in college basketball. Izzo has been the coach at Michigan State for 26 seasons. Sporting News is breaking down this 7-vs.-10 matchup that will determine the team that will advance to the NCAA Tournament's second round, where it most likely will play No. 2 seed Duke.. The Spartans (22-12, 11-9 Big Ten) hail from one of college basketball's deepest conferences. Davidson in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch gives his initial thoughts on the Spartans' NCAA tournament draw and the incredible storylines ahead.

He’s a different player and in a better system for him, averaging 16.6 points per game and shooting 45% from beyond the arc. This is the program of longtime coach Bob McKillop, who coached Steph Curry there in the late 2000s. Defensively and on the glass, though, they’re just OK. But I’ve been a Foster fan long before and will be long after.” More on that in a bit. Loyer has had a stellar year at Davidson, finding a perfect fit and rediscovering his shot and swagger.