The State News, March 17th, 2026

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ONE-AND-DONE LOSS TO OHIO STATE PREPARES MSU HOCKEY FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT

By Audrey Dayton adayton@statenews.com

Michigan State hockey played Ohio State two weeks ago, and fell 5-1 on home ice. Coach Adam Nightingale called Ohio State the hungrier team, and said MSU didn’t show up ready.

That wasn’t the case in the Spartans’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. MSU was competitive from the draw, but so was Ohio State, and hockey is a game of inches.

“In single elimination games like that, it’s a game of inches,” sophomore forward Shane Vansaghi said. “One bad bounce, or one wrong play, or one missed assignment, and the puck can be in the back of your net.”

The loss serves as a reminder of what’s to come in the NCAA Tournament. Every team is hungry, and every team is good. MSU was challenged

teams fought hard to execute, too. That’s why the score was tied entering each intermission.

The game-winning goal came right after an MSU line change. It looked like junior defenseman Patrick Geary was going to hop on the ice, but there was a brief hesitation, and sophomore defenseman Colin Ralph did instead. The rest of the Spartans skated to catch up with Ralph, but Ohio State forward Felix Caron scored anyway.

“When you look at when we got scored on, probably not a great line change,” Nightingale said. “When you get into the first overtime, it’s like second period hockey, and you got to change, you got to be ready to change, and all sudden, they’re coming at you with speed.”

It would be thoughtless to attribute the loss to that one moment. The line change could have worked, but Caron still could have made the shot. On the other hand, the Spartans could

Ohio State goaltender Kristoffer Eberly. Eberly stopped 36 shots, the second-highest mark of his season.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Vansaghi said. “We played a very good team, but I thought we played good, so it was a close game.”

MSU’s start was on brand for the team at its best. It was fast, physical and detailed.

Vansaghi scored the first goal of the night, less than two minutes into the game for a 1-0 MSU lead, but the away-from-the-puck moments were strong, too.

Senior center Charlie Stramel lost the opening draw but won every one after for the rest of the period, 6-7 to open the game. It was a consistency that gave the Spartans more offense.

Every possession was contested. Junior defenseman Patrick Geary used physicality to stop Caron in transition, and freshman forward Ryker Lee raced for the puck, lost it, and stayed

left, (junior forward) Griffin (Jurecki) had a really good rebound look, and I thought (junior goaltender) Trey (Augustine) gave us a chance,” Nightingale said.

By no means did the Spartans play a poor game or lack the effort to advance in the tournament. The fight was there, but a game of inches requires more than just the effort, and Ohio State is a solid team.

“[Ohio State’s] staff does a really good job of playing organized and detailed,” Nightingale said. “If you want to have success, you have to play real hockey, and I wish we could play them again to be honest with you. I think that’s when you get better.”

This is the first time in the last two seasons that the Big Ten Tournament trophy won’t reside in East Lansing. But the Spartans aren’t done, and they know that.

MSU is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament based on its spot in the NPI rankings. It will be the team’s third-straight tournament appearance, after Nightingale led MSU to its first

Unlike the past two seasons, the team has felt the sting of single-round elimination. It’s the first time they are entering the NCAA Tournament following a loss, something

“I think staying with it, that’s really important for our group,” Nightingale said. “This doesn’t change how we feel about our team. I get it. Everyone will have opinions and I don’t really care about anyone’s opinion, to be honest with you. I know how much these guys put in, how much we have in our room and how much character,

UCLA’S MOMENTUM AND PHYSICALITY ELIMINATE

MSU FROM BIG TEN TOURNAMENT

By Kaspar Haehnle khaehnle@statenews.com

The Big Ten Tournament can be classified as a tournament of momentum. When one team plays three days in a row, it’s tired. When another plays back-to-back games, it has momentum. When one plays its first game — especially in the later days of the tournament — it’s rusty.

On Friday night, Michigan State didn’t have that momentum. Instead, UCLA did. In the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, the No. 3 Spartans fell to the No. 6 Bruins, 88-84.

“UCLA played desperate tonight, and we did not,” MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. “They kicked us from start to finish and deserved to win. They punched us in the mouth and that doesn’t happen very often. It’s my job to get my players ready to play, and they were not ready to play.”

On Thursday night, UCLA was playing Rutgers in the third round of the Big Ten tournament. It won 72-59. While the Bruins were playing and gaining momentum, the Spartans were on the couch, scouting and growing cold.

It’s a factor that Izzo pointed to in his weekly press conference before the Big Ten tournament — that when a team gets a bye, there’s always a concern because the team that played the night before possesses momentum.

Those concerns became true, as UCLA possessed this momentum in its physicality and in its shooting. It happened to be the perfect recipe to claim its victory.

UCLA’s physicality came primarily in the post, where defenders denied entry passes by latching

onto Spartan hips and fronting their positioning. When Michigan State was able to get the ball inside, UCLA defenders condensed the paint, where a swarm of blue jerseys created a wall between the ball and the basket.

This reflected a Spartan team at a loss for identity. MSU couldn’t out-physical its opponent in the paint, meaning it found limited success on offense. While that held true throughout the game, it was especially evident in the first half. MSU outrebounded UCLA 17-12 but was outscored in the paint 14-8. Senior forward Jaxon Kohler and senior center Carson Cooper contributed little, combining to shoot 2-for-7 with only five rebounds.

It was this style of play that gave them an 11-point halftime deficit that they could never recover from.

Kohler and Cooper would both finish with underwhelming games on such a big stage. They combined for 6-for-13 shooting with 20 points and 12 rebounds. If MSU wants to compete in the NCAA tournament, the Spartan big men need to fight through opposing teams’ physicality and make a statement. It’s something that they didn’t do tonight, and now they’ll be watching the rest of the Big Ten tournament at home because of it.

“We had a couple possessions where we gave them three rebounds in a row,” Izzo said. “That’s hard to overcome. My seniors weren’t really with it tonight.”

It wasn’t just on defense where UCLA showcased its physicality, but also on offense. This front court physicality correlated to strong and efficient dribble drives that led to easy layups.

The leader of this style of play was Bruin guard Donovan Dent. Following his triple-double the night prior, Dent stepped onto the court with a quickness about him that MSU couldn’t defend — he found success in driving to the hoop, finding the open man and shooting from beyond the arc. He was the Bruins all-star player against Rutgers the night before, just as he was the all-star player against MSU.

Dent would finish shooting 8-for-18 with 23 points while tallying 12 assists. Guarding him was sophomore guard Jeremy Fears Jr., who struggled to keep up with Dent’s quickness and agility. While Fears would finish shooting 7-for14 with 21 points and 13 assists, it was his messy defense against Dent that hurt MSU the most.

“Dent’s first game [against Rutgers] was huge for him,” Fears said. “He played great tonight. He got his guys open shots, and he did what he needed to do to help his guys win. I didn’t do my job in containing him and making it hard for him, so he was able to be successful tonight.

As the game progressed, Dent’s dribble drives drew Spartan defenders into the paint, opening UCLA’s passing lanes. That made it easier for the Bruins to find the open man and knock down open shots.

The result was one of UCLA’s best shooting performances of the season. The Bruins finished 30-for-54 (56%) from the field, 13-for-27 (48%) from beyond the arc and 15-for-19 (79%) from the free-throw line.

In crunch time when MSU attempted to muster a late game comeback, it was these shots that made the difference. Anytime MSU began to gain

momentum late in the second half, the Bruins would push the floor, find an open man and drill a shot that would always keep the Spartans a few steps away.

UCLA shot well, and while it deserves credit for converting those shots, most weren’t difficult. Because of the Bruins’ physicality and their small, quick style of play, the Spartans struggled defensively. For much of the game, they looked methodical — slow in transition, vulnerable to dribble-drive penetration and late on defensive recoveries.

“I do not think we played good defense like we were [during the regular season],” Izzo said. “We just got to get back to who we are and who we’ve been most of the year. I thought we looked out of sorts. I don’t know why yet. But there’s a lot to build on, because our players have already done it.”

In the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, MSU displayed a performance that sends home teams in single-elimination games. In its 88-84 loss to UCLA, it learned that. Luckily for the Spartans, it still has one more tournament to play in.

MSU drew a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region, which features No. 1 seed Duke at the top and No. 2 seed Connecticut at the bottom. The Spartans lost at UConn in an Oct. 28 exhibition and fell to the Blue Devils at home in early December.

MSU will face No. 14 seed North Dakota State in its first March Madness contest on Thursday, March 19, in Buffalo, New York. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. TNT will air the game.

MSU women’s basketball earns No. 5 seed in NCAA Tournament

By Tyler Gaylord tgaylord@statenews.com

10 days after its loss in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan State women’s basketball has finally learned its NCAA Tournament seed.

MSU has been named the No. 5 seed in the Sacramento Region and will face No. 12 seed Colorado State on Friday, marking the program’s third straight tournament appearance under head coach Robyn Fralick and its 19th overall.

In Fralick’s third season in East Lansing, the Spartans finished the regular season 22-7, with an 11-7 record in Big Ten play, and spent the entire year in the AP Top 25, reaching as high as No. 12. The team appeared on track to earn at least a No. 4 seed and host an opening-round site, but a rough stretch beginning Feb. 1 hurt those chances and ultimately cost the Spartans home-court advantage.

Since Feb. 1, when MSU fell to Michigan in the first-ever top-15 rivalry matchup, the Spartans have gone just 3-6, a stretch that included six ranked opponents.

Regardless, nothing can change the past, and all the Spartans can control now is what they do against CSU.

The Rams finished the regular season 24-7 and went on to win the Mountain West tournament as the No. 3 seed, riding a nine-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.

CSU senior guard Lexus Bargesser leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game while adding 5.8 rebounds. The Grass Lake, Michigan, native also brings a home-state connection to the matchup as she faces a team from her home state.

The pillar of the Rams is their defense. They have the seventh-best scoring defense in the nation, holding opponents to just 35% from the field. They also rarely turn the ball over, as they have turned the ball over the least in the nation with just 10.4 turnovers per game.

Though MSU is the higher seed in the matchup, CSU will provide a challenge for the Spartans, especially offensively. The game will take place Friday in Norman, Oklahoma, with the time yet to be announced.

The last of those games came against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, where the No. 7 seed Spartans were upset by No. 10 seed Illinois. That loss appears to have been the final blow to MSU’s No. 4 seed hopes, with ESPN’s Bracketology dropping them to No. 5 after the result.

MSU announced as No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament

By Lucas Gentilia lgentilia@statenews.com

Michigan State men’s basketball and Tom Izzo have reached their 28th straight NCAA Tournament.

Sunday night, MSU was announced as a No. 3 seed in the East Region. The Spartans will face North Dakota State on Thursday.

MSU will have five or six full days of rest entering the madness after falling to UCLA, 88-84, in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

MSU sits at No. 8 in the AP Top-25 Poll, No. 11 in the NET and No. 9 per KenPom.

In Friday night’s game, Jeremy Fears Jr. recorded 13 assists, passing Cassius Winston for first place on Michigan State’s single-season assist list. Fears leads the nation in total assists (294), assists per game (9.2) and assist rate (53%).

Last year, MSU reached the elite eight before losing to Auburn. In the past ten seasons, MSU has lost in the first weekend six times, reached the Sweet 16 three times and the Final Four twice.

MSU ENTERS STACKED REGION, OPENS MARCH MADNESS VS. NDSU

By Kaspar Haehnle khaehnle@statenews.com

The madness has arrived, and for Michigan State men’s basketball, it will take place in Buffalo.

On Selection Sunday, the Spartans heard their name called on television as they landed the No. 3 seed in the East Region. They will begin their NCAA tournament play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday, March 19, at 4:05 p.m. Their opponent will be the No. 14 North Dakota State Bison, who won the Summit League championship on Sunday, March 8. The winner will remain in Buffalo to face either No. 6 Louisville or No. 11 South Florida in the second round.

“There’s a side of this where we have to take [our selection] in and celebrate, but at the same time we have to be mature about this and make sure we don’t get too over-excited and to not lose focus on the main mission,” senior forward Jaxon Kohler said. “This is the most important stretch for us. Whether freshman or senior, we need everybody to play.”

MSU enters the NCAA tournament on a twogame losing streak—a loss to Michigan in its regular-season finale and a loss to UCLA in its Big Ten tournament opener. Now it enters a new season, one where the stakes are high and the emotions run deep; one where a single team will stand victorious and 67 others will be sent home with nothing.

MSU has made three final fours when losing its Big Ten tournament opener. Against a strong region of teams, it looks to do it again.

“As always when you go into these tournaments, you have to know your competition but worry more about your team,” MSU head coach Izzo said. “That’s what we practiced today, and tried to iron out a few things that we thought we didn’t do a good job of in the last game.”

The Spartans are familiar with these high stakes and intense emotions. This tournament will mark MSU’s 28th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, which is currently the longest active NCAA tournament appearance streak. It’s also tied for the longest consecutive streak in NCAA history, tying the 1990-2017 Kansas Jayhawks.

Last year’s NCAA tournament run brought renewed expectations for MSU basketball. After four consecutive years of mediocrity—a 4-4 tournament record and an inability to advance past the Sweet 16—MSU advanced to the Elite Eight thanks to a deep bench and strong senior leadership. While the Spartans fell short of the Final Four with a 70-64 loss to No. 1 Auburn, they offered a vision of what MSU basketball can be year in and year out.

On Thursday, this vision returns, and with it, the hope of cutting nets in April.

A DATE WITH NO. 14 NORTH DAKOTA STATE

The NDSU Bison (27-7, 14-2) are hot. Having won both the Summit League regular-season and tournament championships, the Bison are wellcoached and thrive on shooting from beyond the arc while applying pressure on opposing offenses. This marks their fifth NCAA tournament appearance in school history and their first since 2019. The Bison hold a 2-4 tournament record, highlighted by an upset victory over No. 5 Oklahoma in 2014.

“We like the side of our bracket,” senior center Carson Cooper said. “North Dakota State is a good team, and they make a lot of shots. It’ll be a good matchup and a good region for us.”

NDSU is coached by David Richman, who has led the Bison for 11 seasons. Under his physical style of play, the team currently averages 80.7 points per game while allowing 69.6. Their greatest strength — and, at times, potential vulnerability — is their reliance on the threepoint shot: they attempt an average of 25 per game, converting 36.5% of them.

When this aspect of their game is off, the Bison find themselves struggling. When it’s on, they thrive.

The Bison also boast a deep bench for MSU to scout. With nine players averaging more than ten minutes per game, NDSU always has a substitution ready when a player struggles. MSU will need to keep a close eye on guards Damari Wheeler-Thomas and Trevian Carson, both fast, physical players who can shoot and attack the basket. Wheeler-Thomas averages 14.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game, while Carson contributes 12 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.9 steals.

MSU has an advantage in size, just as it does physicality. Like UCLA, the Bison are guard oriented, relying on small ball to take down opponents – they’re so ‘small’ that they don’t even have a registered center position on their roster. What this creates is a matchup between two teams that have an opposite style of play.

For MSU’s style of play to thrive and blossom,

there must be a physicality in the post that was absent against UCLA last week. If this fails to happen, then NDSU may relive its 2014 upset victory, just as MSU may relive its 2016 upset loss.

A REGION OF GOOD BASKETBALL

There are four regions in the NCAA tournament – the East, South, West and Midwest. MSU was bidded to the East, which happens to be arguably the most difficult in the tournament.

“We will prepare for all three teams... The deal here is to win the weekend. It’s what I learned, it’s what I do, and I think that it’s valid.”

Tom Izzo

MSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach

If the Spartans are victorious against NDSU, it will advance to play the winner of No. 6 Louisville and No. 11 South Florida on Saturday in Buffalo. This season, Louisville (23-10, 11-7 in the ACC) has shown spurts of greatness and spurts of luster — in other terms, the Cardinals are as inconsistent as they come, beating some tournament teams by 30 and losing to others by the same margin. They average 84.8 points while allowing 72.2, and their best victory was against both Kentucky and NC State.

For South Florida (25-8, 15-3 in the AAC), it’s coming off a season where it won both the regular season and tournament championships. Unlike Louisville, there’s been a consistency to this team that thrives in the form of fast pace basketball – close losses to good teams, blowout

victories to the bad. The Bulls average 87.7 points while allowing 75.5, and their best victory comes against both Wichita State and Utah State.

“We will prepare for all three teams,” Izzo said. “The deal here is to win the weekend. It’s what I learned, it’s what I do, and I think that it’s valid. We know that you’ve gotta win the first game to get to the second, but with those quick turn-arounds, [preparing for all three teams] has helped us over the years.”

While MSU may not be thinking about the later rounds, many other people are. If past NDSU, and if past the winner of Louisville and South Florida, MSU will find itself in the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year. The team that would meet them in the Sweet 16 – and the teams that would meet them beyond, if they were to continue winning – would be too difficult to tell.

What’s not difficult to tell, however, is the difficulty in the East region.

Holding the outright No. 1 seed are the Duke Blue Devils (32-2, 17-1 in the ACC), a team that defeated MSU earlier this season, 66-60. The Spartans have historically struggled against Duke, but if the teams were to meet in this tournament, it would only be in the Elite Eight. Such a matchup would not only serve as a rematch of this season’s meeting but also recall MSU’s 68-67 victory over Duke in the 2019 Elite Eight.

The No. 2 seed in this region is the Connecticut Huskies (29-5, 17-3 in the Big East), a team that has enjoyed recent NCAA tournament success, winning back-to-back national championships in 2023 and 2024. If MSU and UConn were to meet in this tournament, it would be in the Sweet 16. The matchup would also serve as a rematch of MSU’s 76-69 exhibition loss to the Huskies earlier in the pre-season.

It’s not just Duke and UConn. There are other teams that pose a threat to MSU down the line, too. At the No. 4 seed are the Kansas Jayhawks (23-10, 12-6 in the Big 12), a historically good March team that, this season, consistently battled in a tough conference. At the No. 5 seed are the St. John Red Storm (28-6, 18-2 in the Big East), a team that has grown hot when it matters the most.

Beyond the top six seeds in this region, there’s No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 9 TCU, No. 10 UCF, No. 12 Northern Iowa, No. 13 Cal Baptist, No. 15 Furman and No. 16 Siena. In March, none of these teams should be discounted.

“We have to be focused, because it was proven that a few years ago, a one seed can lose to a 16 seed,” Izzo said. “The parity is so much different now. So you have to focus on the first team, and that’s what we’ll do.”

The beginning of single elimination basketball begins. In a field of 68, only one team will remain. For MSU, it hopes to be that one team. On Thursday, March 19 at 4:05 p.m. the Spartans will face NDSU at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The game will be aired on TNT.

Redheads take over East Lansing for the fourth annual Ginger Run

By Emma Bowman ebowman@statenews.com

Gingers and redheads alike gathered in downtown East Lansing on March 14 to participate in the fourth annual Running of the Gingers. The student-led event has become a staple during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, with the goal of honoring Irish culture, redhead identity and community spirit.

“We have so many traditions at MSU, but this is different from any other tradition we have,” communication leadership and strategy senior Morgen Leflar said. “Everything is surrounded by the university, or a specific sports team or for a cause. This is just for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s for the gingers. Got to give us a little love sometimes.”

This race took place in the alley directly next to El Azteco and had the runners stopping in the middle of Albert Avenue. They celebrated by waving the Irish flag and jumping around in the street, causing a slight traffic jam.

“This year might have been my best experience because I was the first girl to cross that finish line, so I’m taking that as I basically won the entire race,” Leflar said.

For onlookers, the view of the runners were extremely limited due to the amount of attendees. Students climbed up trees or stood on top of the fireplace right next to the alley in order to try to get a glimpse of the race. Regardless of the low visibility, many students said they were extremely happy to be able to be a small part of this growing tradition.

MSU GYMNASTICS

CELEBRATE SENIORS IN HEARTFELT WIN OVER BROWN

“It’s such a fun way to celebrate a holiday with such a unique idea behind it, because, I mean, what scenario do you see people running a race because of their hair color?” computer science junior Marisa Kelly said.

Beyond the novelty of the race, many students said that it creates a larger sense of community among participants and attendees. Reminding them to slow down and enjoy the hilarious small moments of their undergraduate years.

“It’s something I haven’t experienced

By Tanya Arora tarora@statenews.com

Some meets are about the score. Sunday’s wasn’t.

Inside Jenison Field House, the final home meet of the season for the Michigan State Spartans women’s gymnastics team felt less like a competition and more like a celebration — a farewell to the seniors who had dedicated years to the program.

By the end of the afternoon, MSU beat Brown 197.500-194.650. But the story of the meet wasn’t in the numbers; it was in the routines, the perfect 10 and the final goodbye that left the arena in tears.

MSU opened on the uneven bars, where sophomore Kendall Abney delivered one of the cleanest routines of the rotation. She floated through her skills and stuck the dismount, earning a 9.900 and energizing the crowd early.

Senior Sage Kellerman followed, stepping onto the bars for one of her final home routines. Chalk dust floated in the air around her hands as she moved with calm precision, landing her dismount for a 9.920. Teammates erupted from the

before, and I feel like it just reminds us of our community,” economics junior Alivea Wolcott said. “It reminds me that this is one of the only times in my life when I’ll be surrounded with this many people my age.”

The Ginger Run did not originate from MSU; rather, it has no defined place of origin, although MSU was among the first universities to establish this race. The University of Notre Dame and Boston College host similar events, which led to videos of redheads running going

sidelines, cheering for every part of her journey.

Senior Naya Howard added a 9.75, solidifying the team’s early momentum and setting the tone for the rest of the meet.

Later in the meet, the Spartans moved to the balance beam, where junior MaKayla Tucker delivered a composed routine, earning a 9.8.

But the moment that defined the day came on the floor exercise. Senior Nikki Smith stepped onto the mat, and the energy in the arena changed.

Floor is where gymnastics combines art with athleticism. Smith danced, tumbled and soared through her routine with a confidence built from years of experience. Every leap, every connection and every landing carried the weight of her final home performance.

As she prepared for her last tumbling pass, the crowd held its breath. She launched into the air, landed flawlessly and struck her final pose.

The arena erupted. Teammates sprinted toward her, wrapping her in hugs. Fans jumped to their feet, cheering until the rafters shook. On Senior Day, Smith had created a moment of perfection that would be remembered for years.

entirely viral on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Since then, many colleges have followed suit and created their own versions of the Ginger Run.

Many students expressed their interests in attending next year’s race because of how social media has shaped this as a can’t-miss event.

“I would 100% like to come back next year, I feel like this will be so fun, and I love seeing the clips on TikTok,” Wolcott said. “It’s such a huge part of the day.”

Head coach Mike Rowe watched from the sidelines, pride clear in his eyes.

“These seniors have given everything to this program,” he said. “To see Nikki have that moment on Senior Day … It’s the kind of memory you never forget.”

With the final scores in, MSU had claimed the 197.500-194.650 victory. But the most emotional part of the day was still to come.

One by one, seniors Zsarmani, Smith, Lebster, Kellerman and Howard walked across the floor, arms linked with their families. Teammates held flowers, clapping and cheering. Some tried to hold back tears, pressing hands to their faces as the weight of the moment settled in.

Every step the seniors took echoed the countless hours of practice, the sacrifices and the triumphs that had brought them to this day. For a few minutes, Jenison Field House wasn’t a competition arena; it was a place of gratitude, reflection and farewell.

The cheers, the tears, the hugs — it was a goodbye no one in the arena wanted to end. And thanks to one perfect routine, the final home meet of the season ended exactly as it should: with memory, emotion and a story that will last far longer than the scoreboard.