Ari Saperstein<\/a>
\n | The State News<\/p>\nCooper was the first to get to the gym, followed by the four others. It didn\u2019t take long before the five Spartans found the first group of students to play. It was a weeknight dunk contest with each player trying something new. Off the backboard alley-oops, half-court shots and slick dribble moves were just a taste of the plays erupting the crowd.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Freshman kinesiology major Troy Fox was one of the first to test his luck against the group of Spartans that once boasted the nation\u2019s No. 1 defense. Severely undersized, he gave it his all and said it was fun trying to get past the players. Having fun was the focus for Fox, who was drenched in sweat by the end of the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great experience being able to play against them,\u201d Fox said. \u201cHopefully, some of them return, and we can do it again next year. At the end of the day, we’re all here for fun, so it was great.\u201d <\/p>\n
Junior kinesiology major Ross Pugh said he had nothing else planned and knew he wouldn\u2019t have many more chances to see MSU play in a casual setting. He said he was there for Ugochukwu and was glad the sophomore guard could play again after suffering a broken foot in February. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were just chilling, and it’s Tuesday, so we were like, why not?\u201d Pugh said as Carr came slamming a dunk five feet away. \u201cIt’s kind of sad the way the season ended. But now I get to see all my guys, and I hope none of them transfer, because they’re all just so, so precious to me.\u201d <\/p>\n
This was an opportunity for Pugh and others to put a close on the 2025-26 basketball season while celebrating their common hopes for a better season next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cI’m just excited. I just love basketball, I love being a part of the Izzone and everything,\u201d Pugh said. \u201cI’m gonna miss Cooper. I\u2019m looking forward to beating Michigan for sure.\u201d <\/p>\n
This is the second year in a row MSU men\u2019s basketball has played pickup with MSU students. In April 2025, MSU\u2019s Frankie Fidler put out a similar invitation on his Instagram story, inviting students to IM East to watch them play with former MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles. <\/p>\n
Michigan State is coming off a season-ending loss to UConn, and the future isn\u2019t certain for anyone. The transfer portal opens April 7, and departures and newcomers are likely, regardless of head coach Tom Izzo\u2019s philosophy. <\/p>\n
Cooper pointed to future pickup games, noting that getting some practice in while meeting fans goes a long way in helping them work through the emotions of the loss. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough loss for us, and not just us, for all these fans too. I’m sure they’re all feeling it somewhere, somehow,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about getting people excited for next year and for those guys that are coming back. I think today was a good day for it, and I’m sure this won’t be the last one.\u201d <\/p>\n
Fox, who scored twice on MSU players, said this event reminded him that these athletes are students just like him. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery school doesn’t do something like this,\u201d Fox said. \u201cRight after March Madness, you don’t have teams pulling up to the gym to hoop with the fans, so it\u2019s super cool.\u201d <\/p>\n
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\n Discussion\n <\/p>\n
Share and discuss \u201cMSU men’s basketball surprises students with IM West pickup game\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four days removed from its Sweet 16 loss, the Michigan State men\u2019s basketball team isn\u2019t sulking in disappointment.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-577888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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