EAST LANSING– As the calendar flips to the month of college basketball, No. 13 Michigan State is back on the road for a test against the Indiana Hoosiers.

The Spartans welcomed the Hoosiers to the Breslin Center in January and had a 21-point victory. However, for the majority of the game, it was close. With 11:19 remaining, the game was tied at 53 before MSU burst for a 19-0 run in crunch time. 

In the first matchup, MSU did a good job of limiting the Hoosiers’ leading scorer, Lamar WIlkerson to a 6-of-14 shooting night. Expect Wilkerson to have a better shooting performance on Sunday, especially in the home confines of Assembly Hall.

Indiana is hovering around the NCAA Tournament bubble with a record of 17-11. The Hoosiers are in desperate need of a win over a Quad 1A team like Michigan State to boost their resume.

In the last game, MSU head coach Tom Izzo shortened the rotation against Purdue, only subbing three players off the bench and having two play meaningful minutes. As the games get more meaningful, Izzo could remain with a seven-man rotation.

Spartans’ guard Jeremy Fears Jr. leads the NCAA in assists per game at 9.1 and has 12 performances with 10 or more assists this season.

The Spartans jumped Purdue and Illinois this week in the Big Ten standings, and holds the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten. If MSU closes the final three regular season games with a 2-1 record, it will have a double bye for the conference tournament. 

After falling to the four-seed line in many bracket projections, the Spartans have bounced back and still have a path to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when brackets are announced two weeks from Sunday on March 15.

Tip-off for MSU vs Indiana at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind., is set for 3:45 p.m. on Sunday. Catch the radio broadcast with Jacob Mauer and Josh Lee on call on Impact 89FM: https://impact89fm.org/listenlive/