With senior Denzel Valentine leading the 2015 – 16 Spartans , MSU went undefeated in the non-conference with the school 's best start in history and moved to No. 1 in the polls . However , Valentine suffered a knee injury in late December and would miss four games as MSU lost its first game of the season in Big Ten play and fell from the top spot in the polls . Upon Valentine 's return , MSU continued to struggle , losing four of their first seven conference games and marking their worst conference start since 2003 . The Spartans recovered well , losing only one more conference game and finished 13 – 5 in conference , good enough for second place in the Big Ten . MSU 's 26 regular season wins tied the most for a Michigan State team in the regular season . Following the regular season , '' USA Today '' named Valentine National Player of the Year . The Big Ten also announced that Valentine was the Big Ten 's Player of the Year . As the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament , MSU defeated Ohio State for a third time on the season before dispatching Maryland and Purdue to win the Tournament championship . With the win , MSU set the record for most Big Ten Tournament championships with five ( Ohio State has also won five , but one has been vacated due to NCAA violations ) . MSU , ranked No. 2 in the country , learned that it would not receive a No . 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament , instead receiving a No . 2 seed in the Midwest bracket . This marked the 19th consecutive year the Spartans made the NCAA Tournament . Despite receiving the No. 2 seed , MSU was considered by some the favorite to with the NCAA Championship . However , MSU was shocked by No. 15-seeded Middle Tennessee in the first round in what some argued was the biggest upset in NCAA Tournament history at the time
Big Ten Tournament
2016 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Michigan State Spartans men's basketball