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The Michigan State Spartans (19-9, 10-7) hit the road, or more exactly Interstate-96, to take on the heated rival Michigan Wolverines (15-12, 9-8). The trip marks the second time MSU basketball has made the drive following the original game’s postponement due to COVID-19 outbreaks among the Wolverine program. Michigan’s athletic department broke the news of the outbreak in the early hours of Jan. 8 with the original tip-off time set for 2:30 p.m.
Michigan fell to Illinois on Sunday 93-85 in Ann Arbor, the team’s third loss in the last five games games, while the Spartans upset No. 4 Purdue on Saturday in East Lansing. That victory snapped a three-game losing streak for MSU.
Starting off March with a rivalry road game pic.twitter.com/NkpTdGclsl
— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) March 1, 2022
Michigan State put a beatdown on the Wolverines back on Jan. 29 in the teams’ first meeting, winning 83-67 in East Lansing. I hope nobody mistakes my word choice as a dig at Juwan Howard’s attempt to put a beatdown on the Wisconsin bench after his team’s loss in Madison on Feb. 20. As a result, the Michigan head coach remains suspended for tonight’s game. Instead, associate head coach Phil Martelli is filling in as interim head coach and will lead the Wolverines.
Series History
- Today’s game marks the 190th meeting all-time between the two programs.
- Michigan leads the all-time series 102-87 (95-87 per the NCAA).
- Michigan State leads the series in Big Ten play 70-64 (70-57 per the NCAA).
- MSU has won six of the last eight meetings.
- Tom Izzo is 31-19 (31-13 per the NCAA) in his career as head coach against Michigan.