1982–83 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1982–83 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1982–83 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 seventh year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with a record of 17–13, 9–9 to finish in a tie for sixth place in Big Ten play. The Spartans received an invitation to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Bowling Green State before losing to Fresno State.

1982–83 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Spartan Cutlass Classic champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	17–13 (9–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (7th season)
Assistant coaches	Frank Rourke Mike Deane William Norton
Captains	Bill Cawood Derek Perry
Home arena	Jenison Fieldhouse

1982–83 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Indiana	13	–	5		.722			24	–	6		.800
Purdue	11	–	7		.611			21	–	9		.700
Ohio State	11	–	7		.611			20	–	10		.667
Illinois	11	–	7		.611			21	–	11		.656
Iowa	10	–	8		.556			21	–	10		.677
Minnesota	9	–	9		.500			18	–	11		.621
Michigan State	9	–	9		.500			17	–	13		.567
Northwestern	7	–	11		.389			17	–	13		.567
Michigan	6	–	12		.333			15	–	13		.536
Wisconsin	3	–	15		.167			8	–	20		.286
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1981–82 season with a record of 11–17, 6–12 to finish in a tie for seventh place.

Roster and statistics

1982–83 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
10	Tim Gore	G	JR	6–4	0.3	0.2	0.2
11	Sam Vincent	G	SO	6–2	16.6	2.6	4.9
14	Matt Carrington	G	SO	6–1	0.3	0.1	0.3
15	Ralph Walker	F	FR	6–8	1.3	0.5	0.3
20	Ben Tower	F	JR	6–7	5.9	4.7	1.7
22	Bill Cawood	G/F	SR	6–7	1.2	0.7	0.3
24	Richard Mudd	F/C	JR	6–9	2.5	2.5	0.1
25	Scott Skiles	G	FR	6–1	12.5	2.1	4.9
35	Larry Polec	F	SO	6–8	4.5	2.8	1.4
40	Paul Horton	C	SO	6–9	–	–	–
41	Derek Perry	F	SR	6–6	9.1	3.9	0.8
42	Kevin Willis	C	JR	7–0	13.3	9.6	0.3
44	Patrick Ford	G/F	FR	6–5	4.7	1.7	1.0
45	Sterling William	F	JR	6–6	–	–	–

Source

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 26, 1982*		Western Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic semifinals	W 72–65	1–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Nov 27, 1982*		Central Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic championship	W 62–47	2–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Nov 29, 1982*		at Boise State	W 71–58	3–0	Taco Bell Arena  Boise, ID
Dec 4, 1982*		BYU	W 63–55	4–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 11, 1982*		No. 18 NC State	L 41–45	4–1	Reynolds Coliseum  Raleigh, NC
Dec 13, 1982*		at Cincinnati	W 78–69	5–1	Riverfront Coliseum  Cincinnati, OH
Dec 18, 1982*		Detroit Mercy	W 75–72	6–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 21, 1982*		Cleveland State	W 95–56	7–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 28, 1982*		vs. Southwestern Louisiana Sugar Bowl Tournament semifinals	L 66–71	7–2	Avron B. Fogelman Arena  New Orleans, LA
Dec 29, 1982*		at Tulane Sugar Bowl Tournament third place game	L 58–81	7–3	Avron B. Fogelman Arena  New Orleans, LA
Big Ten regular season
Jan 5, 1983		at No. 8 Iowa	W 61–59	8–3 (1–0)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, IA
Jan 8, 1983		at Northwestern	L 51–62	8–4 (1–1)	Alumni Hall  Evanston, IL
Jan 13, 1983		Wisconsin	W 86–66	9–4 (2–1)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 15, 1983		No. 17 Minnesota	L 67–69	9–5 (2–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 20, 1983		at No. 2 Indiana	L 85–89	9–6 (2–3)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Jan 22, 1983		at Ohio State	L 69–74	9–7 (2–4)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Jan 27, 1983		Illinois	L 71–78	9–8 (2–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 29, 1983		Purdue	W 83–67	10–8 (3–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 5, 1983		at Michigan Rivalry	W 70–65	11–8 (4–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 12, 1983		Michigan Rivalry	L 67–74	11–9 (4–6)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 17, 1983		at Purdue	L 55–61	11–10 (4–7)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 19, 1983		at Illinois	L 61–69	11–11 (4–8)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 24, 1983		No. 15 Ohio State	W 101–94	12–11 (5–8)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 26, 1983		No. 4 Indiana	W 62–54	13–11 (6–8)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 3, 1983		at Minnesota	W 79–67	14–11 (7–8)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Mar 5, 1983		at Wisconsin	W 91–65	15–11 (8–8)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Mar 9, 1983		Northwestern	W 63–58	16–11 (9–8)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 12, 1983		Iowa	L 57–75	16–12 (9–9)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
NIT
Mar 18, 1983		Bowling Green State first round	W 72–71	17–12	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 21, 1983		Fresno State first round	L 58–72	17–13	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time Source.