A little Michigan State Spartans basketball trivia is a good way to get through the offseason as coach Tom Izzo and his club prepare for another strong season.
Spartan Trivia: Who is the last Spartan basketball player to average 20 or more points in a season?
College Basketball Report released a graphic on social media on Tuesday, via social media, displaying the last player to average 20-plus points per game in a season across every Power-Five school in the country. For Michigan State, it has not seen a player dominate at that clip since the year 1995.
Another few hints are that this player is the program’s all-time leading scorer at 2,531 points, spanning a five-year career that began in 1990. He has the No. 24 retired at the Breslin, won Big Ten Player of the Year, and first team All-American in ’95. Can you guess that former Spartan?
The answer is Spartan legend Shawn Respert. He averaged 20+ points in each of the final three years that he played for coach Jud Heathcote, with Izzo as the assistant for Respert’s entire career. His best season was his senior year in ’95, averaging 25.6 points on 48.4% shooting.
Respert is also the reason why former guard Tre Holloman had to defend the Spartan logo on senior day this past season against Michigan. Respert started the tradition of seniors kissing the green helmet at center court on senior day. The tradition has lived on for the past three decades.
He was the No. 8 overall pick to the Portland Trailblazers in the 1995 NBA Draft. Respert played five seasons in the NBA across four different organizations and later became an assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies (2013-2016).
It is somewhat surprising that no Spartan in the past 30 years has finished a season averaging 20 or more. Nobody came close this past season as just two players averaged a touch of 12 points per contest.
The Spartan have had elite talent, but none better than what Respert did in his prime. Players across the nation are still finding ways to average 20 or more in this era of college basketball, but the Spartans are still searching for the next star to take over in East Lansing.
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