1987–88 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1987–88 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1987–88 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 12th year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with an overall record of 10–18, 5–13 to finish in eighth place in Big Ten play.

1987–88 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	10–18 (5–13 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (12th season)
Assistant coaches	Tom Izzo Herb Williams Jim Boylan
Captains	George Papadakos Carlton Valentine Ed Wright
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse

1987–88 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Purdue	16	–	2		.889			29	–	4		.879
No. 10 Michigan	13	–	5		.722			26	–	8		.765
No. 17 Iowa	12	–	6		.667			24	–	10		.706
No. 16 Illinois	12	–	6		.667			23	–	10		.697
Indiana	11	–	7		.611			19	–	10		.655
Ohio State	9	–	9		.500			20	–	13		.606
Wisconsin	6	–	12		.333			12	–	16		.429
Michigan State	5	–	13		.278			10	–	18		.357
Minnesota	4	–	14		.222			10	–	18		.357
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			7	–	21		.250
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1987–88 season with an overall record of 11–17, 6–12 to finish in seventh place in Big Ten play.

Roster and statistics

1987–88 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
45	Carlton Valentine	F	SR	6–5	13.3	5.6	1.5
20	Ken Redfield	F	SO	6–7	11.7	5.1	2.3
21	Steve Smith	G/F	FR	6–6	10.7	4.0	2.9
41	George Papadakos	C	SR	7–0	10.1	5.7	0.6
35	Ed Wright	G/F	SR	6–6	6.2	1.8	3.3
10	Kirk Manns	G	SO	6–1	5.0	4.0	0.5
24	Todd Wolfe	G	JR	6–5	4.4	2.1	0.8
43	Bobby Worthington	F	SR	6–7	4.0	4.1	0.5
23	Jesse Hall	G	FR	6–3	3.3	0.6	0.8
44	Scott Sekal	F	SR	6–8	1.5	0.2	0.1
22	Andre Rison	G	JR	6–0	1.3	0.9	2.3
55	Mario Izzo	C	SR	6–11	1.0	0.0	0.0
34	David Mueller	F/C	SO	6–9	0.5	1.0	0.2
30	Jim Sarkine	F	SR	6–9	0.0	0.3	0.0

Source

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 27, 1987*		Detroit Mercy	W 65–63	1–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 2, 1987*		Maine	W 87–44	2–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 5, 1987*		George Washington	L 64–65	2–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 12, 1987*		TCU	W 69–52	3–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 15, 1987*		Illinois-Chicago	W 78–64	4–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 17, 1987*		at Eastern Michigan	L 80–84 OT	4–2	Bowen Field House  Ypsilanti, MI
Dec 19, 1987*		at Austin Peay	L 77–85	4–3	Winfield Dunn Center  Clarksville, TN
Dec 22, 1987*		San Jose State	W 82–68	5–3	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 29, 1987*		at No. 1 Arizona Fiesta Basketball Classic semifinals	L 58–78	5–4	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Dec 30, 1987*		vs. No. 8 Florida Fiesta Basketball Classic third place game	L 59–83	5–5	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Big Ten regular season
Jan 7, 1988		at Wisconsin	L 72–78 2OT	5–6 (0–1)	Wisconsin Field House (6,743) Madison, WI
Jan 9, 1988		at No. 19 Illinois	L 62–77	5–7 (0–2)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Jan 14, 1988		No. 10 Michigan Rivlary	L 72–90	5–8 (0–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 16, 1988		No. 15 Indiana	W 75–74 OT	6–8 (1–3)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 20, 1988		at No. 5 Purdue	L 67–68	6–9 (1–4)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Jan 27, 1988		Minnesota	L 56–59	6–10 (1–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1988		Ohio State	W 76–64	7–10 (2–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 1988		at Northwestern	W 65–64	8–10 (3–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Feb 6, 1988		at No. 13 Iowa	L 77–101	8–11 (3–6)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena (15,500) Iowa City, IA
Feb 10, 1988		No. 2 Purdue	L 70–72	8–12 (3–7)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 13, 1988		Illinois	L 65–83	8–13 (3–8)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 18, 1988		at Indiana	L 58–95	8–14 (3–9)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Feb 22, 1988		at No. 10 Michigan Rivalry	L 67–77	8–15 (3–10)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 27, 1988		at Ohio State	W 78–77	9–15 (4–10)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Mar 3, 1988		No. 11 Iowa	L 87–103	9–16 (4–11)	Jenison Field House (8,777) East Lansing, MI
Mar 5, 1988		at Minnesota	L 61–62	9–17 (4–12)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Mar 10, 1988		Northwestern	W 55–53	10–17 (5–12)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 12, 1988		Wisconsin	L 69–71	10–18 (5–13)	Jenison Field House (8,158) East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.