With the college basketball regular season coming to a close, Michigan State basketball is trying to finish their season winning out and winning another big ten regular season title. The last game of the season occurs Mar 16, against their rival, the Michigan Wolverines. Recently the Spartans have been the better team over the Wolverines, but the season all comes down to that one final game, who will take the crown.
The Spartans recently took down Michigan at the Chrysler Center (Michigan’s Basketball Court) and have been one of the hottest teams recently in college basketball. They have racked up a whopping five quad-one wins in a row, which are teams that are good and competitive with other good teams or teams ranked in the top 25. They beat Illinois away on 2/15 with a score of 79-65; they then beat number 13 ranked Purdue at home 75-66 on 2/18, Number 12 Michigan away 75-62 on 2/21, on 2/26 they beat number 16 Maryland away 58-55 on a amazing buzzer beater from the Junior Guard Tre Holloman, and their most recent win against number 11 Wisconsin on 3/2 with a score of 71-62. These rankings aren’t these teams’ current rankings, but these are the rankings they had at the time.
With this Spartan team being red hot, they are still being doubted by sports analytics. Last week their AP poll was at number eight, and after beating two top 15 teams, they moved up not a single spot staying ranked at eight. With the Spartans battling Michigan for that top spot the Spartans currently have an edge at the next game with it being at the Breslin Center (Spartan’s Home Court). The Breslin Center is known for one of the best, if not the best, environments in the Big 10. With the environment being so energetic it makes it hard for opponents to come in and compete with this well coached Spartans team.
Tom Izzo speaks on the most recent game against Michigan’ “Most of the credit should go to my assistant coaches and my players. You know the job they did with the quick turnarounds and what they went through was unbelievable. We beat a damn good team today. They are hard to guard. They missed some shots too. I thought in the first half we were awful. We only had one guy, Jase, that played well. And when I went in at halftime I said we’ve got a chance, because I thought we’d be about 15 down the way we played. Maybe they didn’t make some shots, although they shot 53 percent, but the turnovers we had that led to touchdowns were ridiculous.”
Although Michigan holds the all-time record for the rivalry between them with a record of 97-91, Tom Izzo’s record against them is 31-14, which means he is successful when he plays them. But since MSU was added to the Big Ten in 1950, the Spartans hold the edge, 73-66. It’s even more lopsided in Michigan State’s favor — at 31-16 — since the start of the 1999-2000 season.
