1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

American college basketball season

1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball

Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	15–7 (10–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	John E. Benington (1st season)
Assistant coach	Robert Nordmann
Captain	William Curtis
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse
Seasons← 1964–65 1966–67 →

1965–66 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 9 Michigan	11	–	3	.786	18	–	8	.692
Michigan State	10	–	4	.714	15	–	7	.682
Iowa	8	–	6	.571	17	–	7	.708
Illinois	8	–	6	.571	12	–	12	.500
Minnesota	7	–	7	.500	14	–	10	.583
Northwestern	7	–	7	.500	12	–	12	.500
Wisconsin	6	–	8	.429	11	–	13	.458
Ohio State	5	–	9	.357	11	–	13	.458
Indiana	4	–	10	.286	8	–	16	.333
Purdue	4	–	10	.286	8	–	16	.333

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1965–66 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 first year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 15–7, 10–4 in Big Ten play to finish in second place.

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1964–65 season 5–18, 1–13 in Big Ten play to finish in last place.

Following the season, head coach Forrest "Forddy" Anderson was fired after 11 years as the Spartans' head coach. Shortly thereafter, the school hired John E. Benington, head coach at Saint Louis, as head coach.

Roster and statistics

1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb
11	John Gorman	G	SR	5–11	2.2	0.2
12	John Bailey	G	SO	6–0	8.1	3.2
13	Edward "Ted" Crary	F	JR	6–5	0.8	–
14	Gary Spade	G	SO	5–11	–	–
15	Steven Rymal	G	SO	5–11	8.3	2.8
21	James O'Brien	G	SO	6–3	0.7	–
22	Shannon Reading	G	JR	6–1	6.0	1.8
23	James Kupper	G	SR	6–0	1.3	0.5
24	Stan Washington links to wrong Stan Washington	G	SR	6–3	18.0	10.6
25	William Curtis	F	SR	6–8	16.4	9.3
32	Jack Wynn	C	SO	6–10	1.0	–
33	Heywood Edwards	F	SO	6–5	1.7	–
35	Robert Miller	F	SR	6–5	1.3	1.1
41	Arthur Baylor	F	SO	6–6	4.5	3.6
42	Gerald Geistler	C	SO	6–8	0.8	–
43	Richard Holmes	F	SR	6–4	1.4	–
44	David Keeler	F	JR	6–8	1.0	–
45	Matthew Aitch	C	JR	6–7	13.8	8.8

Source

Schedule and results

The Spartans participated in the second annual Rainbow Classic at the Honolulu International Center from December 27–30, 1966. There they played against a Marine and Army team in the tournament. These games do not count on the official record.

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Dec 4, 1965*	Western Michigan	L 82–85	0–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 7, 1965*	at Bowling Green	W 84–59	1–1	Anderson Arena Bowling Green, OH
Dec 9, 1965*	Butler	W 75–59	2–1	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 11, 1965*	at Notre Dame	W 93–69	3–1	Notre Dame Fieldhouse South Bend, IN
Dec 18, 1965*	Saint Joseph's	L 65–82	3–2	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 1965*	Tulane	W 80–61	4–2	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Dec 22, 1965*	at Drake	W 61–50	5–2	Veterans Memorial Auditorium Des Moines, IA
Dec 27, 1965*	vs. Hawaiian Marines Rainbow Classic	W 84–53		Honolulu International Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 28, 1965*	vs. Tulsa Rainbow Classic	L 67–78	5–3	Honolulu International Center Honolulu, HI
Dec 30, 1965*	vs. Hawaiian Army Rainbow Classic	W 97–69		Honolulu International Center Honolulu, HI
Big Ten regular season
Jan 8, 1966	Minnesota	W 85–65	6–3 (1–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 10, 1966	at Purdue	W 92–74	7–3 (2–0)	Lambert Fieldhouse West Lafayette, IN
Jan 15, 1966	Ohio State	W 80–64	8–3 (3–0)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 22, 1966	at Iowa	L 76–90	8–4 (3–1)	Iowa Fieldhouse Iowa City, IA
Jan 24, 1966	Purdue	W 92–74	9–4 (4–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Jan 29, 1966	at Northwestern	W 77–68	10–4 (5–1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL
Feb 5, 1966	Wisconsin	W 79–65	11–4 (6–1)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 12, 1966	at Minnesota	L 71–81	11–5 (6–2)	Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN
Feb 19, 1966	at Wisconsin	L 77–78	11–6 (6–3)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI
Feb 22, 1966	Illinois	W 68–66	12–6 (7–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 26, 1966	Indiana	W 69–63	13–6 (8–3)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
Feb 28, 1966	at Ohio State	W 98–79	14–6 (9–3)	St. John Arena Columbus, OH
Mar 5, 1966	at Indiana	L 76–86	14–7 (9–4)	New Fieldhouse Bloomington, IN
Mar 7, 1966	Michigan Rivalry	W 86–77	15–7 (10–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Source

References

"1966-67 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
"Michigan State Spartans 2016-17 Media Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
Ramsey, Kirk. "Tropic Lightning News, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam". www.25thida.org. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
Ramsey, Kirk. "Tropic Lightning News, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam". www.25thida.org. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
"1965-66 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
"Michigan State Spartans" (PDF). October 8, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.

v t e Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Venues	Armory (1899–1918) IM Circle (1918–1930) Demonstration Hall (1930–1940) Jenison Fieldhouse (1940–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic "The Flintstones" Izzone Michigan State University student riots
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024-25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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