2003–04 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
American college basketball season
The 2003–04 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 2003–04 NCAA Division I men's basketball season . The Spartans played their home games at Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan . They were coached by Tom Izzo in his ninth year as head coach. MSU finished the season with a record of 18–12, 12–4 to finish in a tie for second place in Big Ten play. The Spartans received a bid to the NCAA tournament for the seventh consecutive year where they lost in the First Round to Nevada .
Previous season
The Spartans finished the 2002–03 season with an overall record of 22–12, 10–6 to finish in fifth place in the Big Ten. Michigan State received a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament , their sixth straight trip to the Tournament, and advanced to the Elite Eight, their fourth trip to the Elite Eight under Tom Izzo.
Season summary
The Spartans were led by sophomore Paul Davis (15.9 PPG, 6.2 PRG, 2.0 APG) and juniors Chris Hill (13.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.9 APG) and Kelvin Tolbert (10.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.0 PAG). The Spartans began the season ranked No. 3 in the country and faced a difficult non-conference schedule. MSU fell on the road to No. 6 Kansas in the second game of the season.[ 1] Two wins followed the loss before a murderer's row of a schedule which included three straight losses to No. 6 Duke ,[ 2] in overtime to No. 14 Oklahoma at the Palace of Auburn Hills ,[ 3] and to No. 8 Kentucky at Ford Field in the Basketbowl .[ 4] [ 5] The Spartans followed this losing streak by losing two of their final four non-conference games including at No. 17 Syracuse and dropped out of the rankings.[ 6] They finished the non-conference slate at 5–6.
After a loss to open Big Ten play to No. 21 Wisconsin ,[ 7] the Spartans recovered to win seven of their next eight and six of their last seven Big Ten games. They finished in a tie for second place in the Big Ten at 12–4 and 17–10 overall. A win over Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals[ 8] was followed by a third loss of the season to No. 17 Wisconsin.[ 9]
The Spartans received a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the tournament for the seventh consecutive year. But, for the second time in three years, the Spartans were knocked out in the First Round, this time by Nevada .[ 10] [ 11]
Roster
2003–04 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
Players
Coaches
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on
Roster
Schedule and results
Date time, TV
Rank#
Opponent#
Result
Record
Site city, state
Exhibition
Nov 2, 2003 2:30 pm, ESPN
Harlem Globetrotters
L 83–97
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Nov 13, 2003
Nike Elite
W 85–81
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Non-conference regular season
Nov 21, 2003 *7:05 pm
No. 3
Bucknell
W 64–52
1–0
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Nov 25, 2003 *
No. 3
at No. 6 Kansas
L 74–81
1–1
Allen Fieldhouse (16,300)Lawrence, KS
Nov 29, 2003 *2:00 pm
No. 3
Pennsylvania Spartan Classic
W 77–52
2–1
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Nov 30, 2003 *4:10 pm
No. 3
DePaul Spartan Classic
W 89–81
3–1
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Dec 3, 2003 *
No. 5
No. 6 Duke ACC-Big Ten Challenge
L 50–72
3–2
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Dec 6, 2003 *
No. 5
vs. No. 14 Oklahoma Spartan Clash
L 77–80 OT
3–3
The Palace of Auburn Hills (18,123)Auburn Hills, MI
Dec 13, 2003 *4:00 pm, CBS
No. 21
vs. No. 8 Kentucky Basketbowl
L 74–79
3–4
Ford Field (78,129)Detroit, MI
Dec 16, 2003 *
South Florida
W 73–60
4–4
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Dec 20, 2003 *
at UCLA
L 58–64
4–5
Pauley Pavilion (12,433)Los Angeles, CA
Dec 30, 2003 *7:00 pm
Coppin State
W 78–72
5–5
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Jan 3, 2004 *12:05 pm, CBS
at No. 17 Syracuse
L 60–73
5–6
Carrier Dome (25,869)Syracuse, NY
Big Ten regular season
Jan 10, 2004 11:01 am
at No. 21 Wisconsin
L 64–77
5–7 (0–1)
Kohl Center (17,142)Madison, WI
Jan 14, 2004 8:00 pm
Penn State
W 76–58
6–7 (1–1)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Jan 17, 2004 3:45 pm, CBS
Michigan Rivalry
W 71–54
7–7 (2–1)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Jan 21, 2004 7:00 pm
at Northwestern
W 73–61
8–7 (3–1)
Welsh-Ryan Arena (5,743)Evanston, IL
Jan 25, 2004 2:00 pm, CBS
at No. 23 Purdue
L 70–76 OT
8–8 (3–2)
Mackey Arena (14,123)West Lafayette, IN
Jan 28, 2004 8:00 pm
at Minnesota
W 79–78 OT
9–8 (4–2)
Williams Arena (12,601)Minneapolis, MN
Jan 31, 2004 8:00 pm
Indiana
W 84–72
10–8 (5–2)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Feb 4, 2004 8:00 pm
Iowa
W 89–72
11–8 (6–2)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Feb 7, 2004 12:00 pm
at Ohio State
W 84–70
12–8 (7–2)
Value City Arena (17,337)Columbus, OH
Feb 10, 2004 8:00 pm
at Illinois
L 51–75
12–9 (7–3)
Assembly Hall (16,618)Champaign, IL
Feb 14, 2004 12:17 pm
Minnesota
W 69–58
13–9 (8–3)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Feb 17, 2004 7:00 pm
Purdue
W 62–55
14–9 (9–3)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Feb 21, 2004
Northwestern
W 66–56
15–9 (10–3)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Feb 24, 2004 7:00 pm
at Michigan Rivalry
W 72–69
16–9 (11–3)
Crisler Arena (13,751)Ann Arbor, MI
Feb 28, 2004 12:15 pm
at Penn State
W 67–47
17–9 (12–3)
Bryce Jordan Center (11,777)State College, PA
Mar 2, 2004
No. 17 Wisconsin
L 64–68 OT
17–10 (12–4)
Breslin Center (14,759)East Lansing, MI
Big Ten tournament
Mar 12, 2004 , ESPN Plus
(3)
vs. (6) Northwestern quarterfinals
W 68–55
18–10
Conseco Fieldhouse (15,178)Indianapolis, IN
Mar 13, 2004 , CBS
(3)
vs. (2) No. 10 Wisconsin semifinals
L 66–68
18–11
Conseco Fieldhouse (15,903)Indianapolis, IN
NCAA tournament
Mar 18, 2004 , CBS
(7 E)
vs. (10 E) Nevada First Round
L 66–72
18–12
KeyArena (15,827)Seattle, WA
Player statistics
Individual player statistics (Final)
Scoring
Total FGs
3-point FGs
Free-Throws
Rebounds
Player
GP
Pts
Avg
FG
FGA
Pct
3FG
3FA
Pct
FT
FTA
Pct
Tot
Avg
A
Stl
Blk
Ager, Maurice
30
254
8.5
87
225
.387
37
106
.349
43
61
.705
96
3.2
20
12
8
Anderson, Alan
30
243
8.1
78
167
.467
17
48
.354
70
87
.805
93
3.1
96
29
5
Andreas, Jason
30
85
2.8
38
69
.551
0
0
9
10
.900
69
0.5
15
6
6
Bograkos, Tim
30
28
0.9
13
24
.542
1
5
.200
1
3
.333
24
0.4
12
8
4
Brown, Shannon
30
237
7.9
88
195
.451
15
44
.341
46
57
.807
75
1.3
38
33
1
Cotton, Brandon
3
3
1.0
1
3
.333
0
1
.000
1
2
.500
0
1.0
3
0
0
Davis, Paul
30
474
15.8
163
287
.568
5
15
.333
143
179
.799
187
2.0
59
44
19
Hamo, Anthony
5
2
0.4
1
1
1.000
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
1
0
Harvey, Andy
6
0
0.0
0
1
.000
0
0
0
0
1
0.2
0
0
0
Hill, Chris
30
415
13.8
141
282
.500
84
185
.454
49
65
.754
84
2.8
118
46
1
Johnson, Rashi
27
19
0.7
7
19
.368
0
6
.000
5
10
.500
14
0.5
12
4
0
Naymick, Drew
22
13
0.6
4
10
.400
0
0
5
6
.833
21
1.0
2
2
1
Ockerman, Justin
15
6
0.4
3
6
.500
0
0
0
0
8
0.5
1
3
1
Rowley, Delco
14
17
1.2
7
13
.538
0
0
3
5
.600
16
1.1
2
0
0
Torbert, Kelvin
30
321
10.7
109
204
.534
31
64
.484
72
90
.800
108
3.6
60
23
7
Trannon, Matt
17
21
1.2
8
13
.615
0
0
5
11
.455
28
1.6
3
3
1
Source[ 14]
Rankings
Ranking movementLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked.
Poll
Pre
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4
Wk 5
Wk 6
Wk 7
Wk 8
Wk 9
Wk 10
Wk 11
Wk 12
Wk 13
Wk 14
Wk 15
Wk 16
Wk 17
Wk 18
Wk 19
Final
AP[ 15]
3
3
5
21
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
N/A*
Coaches[ 16]
4
3
6
20
25
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
NR
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings
Awards and honors
Paul Davis – All-Big Ten First Team[ 17]
Paul Davis – NABC All-District Team[ 17]
Chris Hill – All-Big Ten Second Team[ 17]
Chris Hill – Academic All-American First Team [ 18]
Kelvin Torbert – All-Big Ten Third Team (Coaches), All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (Media)[ 17]
Shannon Brown – All-Big Ten Freshman Team[ 17]
References
^ "MSU Edged In Top-10 Matchup – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Fall In Battle Of Sixes – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartan Comeback Falls Short Against Oklahoma In OT – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Men's Basketball Falls To No. 8 Kentucky, 79-74 – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Wildcats make bid for No. 1 before record crowd" . ESPN.com . Archived from the original on April 20, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Fall At No. 17 Syracuse, 96-83 – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Fall To No. 21 Wisconsin, 77-64 – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Advance Past Northwestern, 68-55 – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Edged Out By Wisconsin, 68-66 – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "Spartans Fall To Nevada In NCAA First Round – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016 .
^ "2004 Nevada vs. Michigan State Round of 64" . ncaa-basketball-tournament.pointafter.com . Retrieved February 17, 2016 .[permanent dead link ]
^ "2003-04 Michigan State Spartans Schedule and Results" .
^ "Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016 .
^ "2003-04 Michigan State Spartans Roster and Stats" .
^ "2004 Michigan State Spartans" . College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com . Retrieved February 5, 2016 .
^ "NCAA College Basketball Polls, College Basketball Rankings, NCAA Basketball Polls - ESPN" . ESPN.com . Retrieved February 5, 2016 .
^ a b c d e "Paul Davis Named First-Team All-Big Ten – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016 .
^ "Chris Hill Named First-Team Academic All-American – Michigan State Official Athletic Site" . www.msuspartans.com . Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016 .
Venues Rivalries Culture & lore People Seasons NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics