5 Things for Feb 17; MSU and Michigan Suffer Bad Home Losses

1.  With Michigan losing to Wisconsin earlier in the day, all Michigan State had to do was take care of Nebraska at home to take sole possession of first place in the Big 10.  Terran Petteway and Walter Pitchford had other ideas.

Petteway scored 23 points and hit a number of tough shots down the stretch, while Pitchford added 18 points of his own.  MSU was held to an abysmal 34% shooting including 5-24 from behind the arc as they fell to Nebraska 60-61.

Michigan State is still tied for 1st place in the Big 10 with Michigan, but had a golden opportunity to take control of the conference race.  A win at Michigan on Sunday would give them another chance to do that.

2. As I mentioned earlier, Michigan lost at home to Wisconsin Sunday afternoon.  Frank Kaminsky had 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Badgers, and Nik Stauskas had another quiet day shooting 4-11 from the field.  Caris Levert had a career-high 25 points for U of M, who will get a week off before hosting MSU on Sunday.

3.  The US Men's Olympic Hockey Team had an excellent weekend.  First, they beat Russia 3-2 in a Shootout on Saturday.  Then they got a hat-trick from Phil Kessel as they beat Slovenia yesterday afternoon.  The Americans will face the winner of the Czech Republic-Slovakia game.

4.  MSU's hockey team had a solid weekend, getting a tie and a win on the road over Penn State.  Joe Cox and Matt Berry scored for the Spartans yesterday as they won 2-1.

5.  The Women's team got a balanced scoring attack as they blew out Ohio State 70-49.  MSU held Ohio State to 30.9% shooting, and got 17 points and 11 rebounds from Annalise Pickrel.  They have won five of their last six games and are 9-3 in the Big 10.