| Mode: | Basketball |
| Year: | 1970–71 |
| Team: | Michigan State Spartans |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Short Conf: | Big Ten |
| Record: | 10–14 |
| Conf Record: | 4–10 |
| Asst Coach1: | Robert Nordmann |
| Asst Coach2: | Matthew Aitch |
| Hc Year: | 2nd |
| Captain: | Rudy Benjamin |
| Champion: | Lobo Invitational champions |
The 1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team represented Michigan State University in the 1970–71 NCAA Division I men's basketball season as members of the Big Ten Conference. They played their home games at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Michigan and were coached by Gus Ganakas in his second year as head coach of the Spartans. They finished the season 10–14, 4–10 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place.
The Spartans finished the 1969–70 season 9–15, 5–9 in Big Ten play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.
| - | 1970–71 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Name | Pos | Year | Height | Pts | Reb |
| 10 | Brad VanPelt | F | SO | 6–5 | 4.5 | 2.9 |
| 11 | Gary Ganakas | G | SO | 5–5 | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| 13 | Gary Przybylo | G | JR | 6–0 | 0.3 | – |
| 14 | Johnnie Brown | G | JR | 6–1 | 0.6 | – |
| 21 | Rudy Benjamin | G | SR | 6–2 | 21.7 | 4.0 |
| 22 | Bill Kilgore | C | SO | 6–7 | 14.2 | 12.9 |
| 24 | Ron Gutkowski | F | JR | 6–6 | 7.3 | 3.5 |
| 25 | Larry Ike | F | SO | 6–3 | 0.6 | – |
| 31 | Eddie Humphrey | G | SR | 6–2 | 2.0 | – |
| 32 | Jeff VanderLende | F | SO | 6–7 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| 33 | Paul Dean | F | SR | 6–1 | 4.6 | 2.0 |
| 35 | Pat Miller | G | JR | 6–2 | 11.3 | 5.2 |
| 42 | Brian Breslin | F | SO | 6–5 | 7.8 | 4.0 |
| 43 | Jim Shereda | C | SO | 6–7 | 1.3 | – |
| 45 | William Cohrs | C | JR | 6–6 | 1.3 | 0.7 |
|-!colspan=9 style=| Regular season