1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team

The 1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1985–86 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 10th year at Michigan State. The Spartans finished with a record of 23–8, 12–6 to finish in third place in Big Ten play. The Spartans received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. As the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region, they defeated Washington and Georgetown to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they lost to No. 1-seeded Kansas. The wins were the first NCAA tournament wins for the Spartans since 1979.

1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Lobo Classic champions Spartan Cutlass Classic champions
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 18
Record	23–8 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jud Heathcote (10th season)
Assistant coaches	Tom Izzo Mike Deane Herb Williams
Captains	Scott Skiles Larry Polec
Home arena	Jenison Field House

1985–86 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan	14	–	4		.778			28	–	5		.848
No. 16 Indiana	13	–	5		.722			21	–	8		.724
No. 18 Michigan State	12	–	6		.667			23	–	8		.742
No. 19 Illinois	11	–	7		.611			22	–	10		.688
Purdue	10	–	8		.556			22	–	10		.688
Iowa	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Ohio State	8	–	10		.444			19	–	14		.576
Minnesota	5	–	13		.278			15	–	16		.484
Wisconsin	4	–	14		.222			12	–	16		.429
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			8	–	20		.286
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Spartans finished the 1984–85 season with a record of 19–10, 10–8 to finish in fifth place in Big Ten play. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 10 seed. There they lost to UAB in the first round.

Roster and statistics

1985–86 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
No	Name	Pos	Year	Height	Pts	Reb	Ast
4	Scott Skiles	G	SR	6–1	27.4	4.4	6.5
13	Darryl Johnson	G	JR	6–2	16.6	3.3	4.0
23	Vernon Carr	F/G	JR	6–6	13.8	5.4	0.7
35	Larry Polec	F	SR	6–8	10.7	5.7	1.6
45	Carlton Valentine	F	SO	6–6	6.0	3.2	0.2
42	Todd Wolfe	G/F	FR	6–5	4.0	1.0	0.0
15	Ralph Walker	F	SR	6–8	2.8	2.8	0.4
40	Barry Fordham	C/F	JR	6–8	2.8	3.7	0.4
24	Mark Brown	G	FR	6–0	2.3	0.5	0.8
34	David Mueller	F/C	FR	6–9	2.1	1.2	0.0
44	Scott Sekal	F	FR	6–8	2.0	0.6	0.0
00	Keith Hill	G	FR	6–4	2.0	0.0	1.0
55	Mario Izzo	C	FR	6–11	0.5	1.1	0.0
30	Jim Sarkine	F	FR	6–9	0.3	0.4	0.1
22	Andre Rison	G	FR	6–0	0.0	0.2	0.7

Source

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 23, 1985*		Western Illinois	W 98–63	1–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Nov 26, 1985*		Maine	W 89–58	2–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 4, 1986*		Central Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic semifinals	W 103–60	20–6	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Nov 30, 1985*		Western Michigan Spartan Cutlass Classic championship	W 84–64	3–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 4, 1985*		George Washington	W 87–61	4–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 1985*		Canisius	W 90–61	5–0	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 14, 1985*		at Iowa State	L 80–82 OT	5–1	James H. Hilton Coliseum  Ames, IA
Dec 21, 1985*		Illinois-Chicago	W 99–74	6–1	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Dec 27, 1985*		vs. Massachusetts Lobo Classic semifinals	W 93–45	7–1	The Pit/University Arena  Albuquerque, NM
Dec 28, 1985*		at New Mexico Lobo Classic championship	W 76–61	8–1	The Pit/University Arena  Albuquerque, NM
Big Ten regular season
Jan 2, 1986		at Ohio State	L 73–84	8–2 (0–1)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
Jan 5, 1986		at No. 15 Indiana	W 77–74	9–2 (1–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
Jan 9, 1986		No. 20 Purdue	L 83–88	9–3 (1–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 12, 1986		No. 18 Illinois	W 58–51	10–3 (2–2)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 16, 1986		at Iowa	L 71–82	10–4 (2–3)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
Jan 18, 1986		at Minnesota	L 71–76	10–5 (2–4)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
Jan 25, 1986		No. 6 Michigan Rivalry	W 91–79	11–5 (3–4)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Jan 30, 1986		Wisconsin	W 83–81	12–5 (4–4)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 1, 1986		Northwestern	W 97–69	13–5 (5–4)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 6, 1986		at Illinois	W 84–80	14–5 (6–4)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Feb 8, 1986		at Purdue	L 82–88	14–6 (6–5)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
Feb 13, 1986		Iowa	W 83–73	15–6 (7–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 15, 1986		Minnesota	W 76–66	16–6 (8–5)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Feb 20, 1986	No. 19	No. 7 Michigan Rivalry	W 74–59	17–6 (9–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 27, 1986	No. 17	at Northwestern	W 82–48	18–6 (10–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
Mar 2, 1986	No. 17	at Wisconsin	W 84–71	19–6 (11–5)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
Mar 5, 1986	No. 17	No. 16 Indiana	L 79–97	20–7 (11–6)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
Mar 8, 1986	No. 17	Ohio State	W 91–81	21–7 (12–6)	Jenison Field House  East Lansing, MI
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (12 MW) Washington First Round	W 72–70	22–7	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, OH
Mar 15,1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (4 MW) No. 13 Georgetown Second Round	W 80–68	23–7	University of Dayton Arena  Dayton, OH
Mar 21, 1986	(5 MW) No. 18	vs. (1 MW) No. 2 Kansas Sweet Sixteen	L 86–96 OT	23–8	Kemper Arena  Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Awards and honors

• Scott Skiles – All-Big Ten First Team