EAST LANSING— No. 14 Michigan State men’s basketball is headed to take on its in-state rival No. 12 Michigan in a sold out, maized out Crisler Arena on Friday night.
MSU upset No. 13 Purdue on Tuesday night 75-66 after picking up momentum in the last four minutes of the first half. The Spartans had four players finish in double-digits including freshman guard Jase Richardson (12), senior forward Frankie Fidler (11), senior guard Jaden Akins (10) and sophomore forward Coen Carr (10).
The Green and White shot 58.3% from the field, 30.8% from behind the arc and 71.4% from the free throw line. MSU also recorded 23 rebounds, 20 assists, 10 steals, eight turnovers and two blocks.
The Spartans are 21-5 on the season and 12-3 in B1G play. If MSU takes down Michigan, which sits at 12-2 in B1G play, then it will claim the No. 1 spot in conference standings.
Michigan leads MSU 104-90 in the all-time series, while the Spartans have led 3-2 in the last five meetings between the two programs. These two teams haven’t clashed in a ranked match-up since 2020 when Michigan was ranked No. 12 and MSU was ranked No. 14.
Scouting Michigan
Michigan is 20-5 overall and 12-2 in conference play this season. The Wolverines are currently on a six-game winning streak, most recently taking down Ohio State in Columbus 86-83 on Sunday.
The past six-straight victories for Michigan have been decided by four or less points. The Wolverines have had a total of 13 games decided by four or less points this season, 10 within B1G play.
Three Michigan players finished in double-figures on Sunday, including, graduate center Valdislav Goldin (20), junior forward/center Danny Wolf (17) and graduate guard Nimari Burnett (11). The Wolverines went 33-68 from the field, 7-21 from behind the arc and 13-17 from the free throw line against the Buckeyes.
As a team Michigan is shooting 49% from the field, 36% from behind the arc and 73% from the line this season. Goldin is the Wolverines’ leading scorer averaging 15.7 points per game, followed by Wolf with 12.9 points per game.
Wolf is also the category leader in rebounds with 7.9 rebounds per game. Junior guard Tre Donaldson is the assists leader with 4.0 assists per game.
The two rivals will face off on Friday night with the tip-off set for 8 p.m. Tune into the live radio broadcast featuring Matt Merrifield and Allie Cohen locally on 88.9 FM or at impact89fm.org/listen-live/.
