SPI Master Loopback

I'm starting to play around with talking to a nRF8001 with MSP430.  First thing that I wanted to do is get the SPI up and running so I checked out the G2553 demo code on mspware.  Here's the SPI initi code:

	  P1SEL  |= BIT4 + BIT5 + BIT6 + BIT7;
	  P1SEL2 |= BIT4 + BIT5 + BIT6 + BIT7;

	  UCB0CTL0 |= UCCKPL + UCMSB + UCMST + UCSYNC;  // 3-pin, 8-bit SPI master
	  UCB0CTL1 |= UCSSEL_2;                     // SMCLK
	  UCB0STAT = 0;
	  UCB0BR0 |= 0x08;                          // /2
	  UCB0BR1 = 0;                              //
	  UCB0CTL1 &= ~UCSWRST;                     // **Initialize USCI state machine**
	  IE2 |= UCB0RXIE;                          // Enable USCI0 RX interrupt

This is what I don't understand, without shorting MISO to MOSI in hardware, the data is looping back.  

I would have expected to have UCB0STAT = UCLISTEN

I tried to tie MISO to ground in case there was some coupling through the port, still looping back.

What am I missing?

Also if anyone has a good SPI library or has done any work with nRF8001, would love to hear about it.  I tried energia briefly, cool but I'm not sure if it is the right tool for this job.