Michigan-Michigan State Preview: A Close Look At The Spartans

Michigan Wolverines basketball (13-9, 4-7 Big Ten) hosts Michigan State (16-7, 8-4 Big Ten) on Saturday.

The Wolverines are coming off a rivalry game loss at home to Ohio State, who pulled off a 61-58 victory Tuesday night. Before that, U-M had won two straight, against Nebraska and Rutgers. The Wolverines are in the midst of a 15 game stretch in which they have only won nine games.

Michigan State is losers of three out of its last four road games, and will face a tough environment Saturday afternoon. The Spartans are 3-3 in their last six, including Tuesday night's loss at home to Penn State.

We caught up with Matt Charboneau of the Detroit News to get some further insight on Michigan State.

The Basics

Date: Tuesday, Feb. 4

Time: 12:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Crisler Center (Ann Arbor, Mich.)

TV: FOX

Spread: Michigan State -1.5

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vs. Kentucky (L, 69-62)

vs. Binghampton (W, 100-47)

at Seton Hall (W, 76-73)

vs. Charleston So. (W, 94-46)

vs. Va. Tech (L, 71-66)

vs. Georgia (W, 93-85)

vs. UCLA (W, 75-62)

vs. Duke (L, 87-75)

vs. Rutgers (W, 77-65)

vs. Oakland (W, 72-49)

at Northwestern (W, 77-72)

vs. Eastern Michigan (W, 101-48)

vs. Western Michigan (W, 95-62)

vs. Illinois (W, 76-56)

vs. Michigan (W, 87-69)

vs. Minnesota (W, 74-58)

at Purdue (L, 71-42)

vs. Wisconsin (W, 67-55)

at Indiana (L, 67-63)

at Minnesota (W, 70-52)

vs. Northwestern (W, 79-50)

at Wisconsin (L, 64-63)

vs. Penn State (L, 75-50)

#5 - Senior guard Cassius Winston (6-1, 185 pounds) — Winston paces MSU in scoring with 18.5 points per game. He also adds 5.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. He's shooting 43.0 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent on three-pointers. He had 32 points in January’s meeting between U-M and MSU.

#11 - Sophomore forward Aaron Henry (6-6, 210 pounds) — He's scoring 9.3 points per game this year and adding 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest. Henry is converting on 44.0 percent of his field goals and 35.5 percent on three-pointers.

#44 - Sophomore forward Gabe Brown (6-7, 210 pounds) — Brown averages 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He is shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from three.

#25 - Freshman forward Malik Hall (6-7, 215 pounds) — Averages 4.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He shoots 54.1 percent from the field and 40 percent from three.

#23 - Junior forward Xavier Tillman (6-8, 245 pounds) — Tillman averages 13.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game on 52.5 percent shooting, and 31.6 percent from three. He had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the last meeting.

Off The Bench

#2 Freshman guard Rocket Watts (6-2, 185 pounds) — The freshman plays 20.4 points per game and is a big contributor off the bench, averaging 7.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He shoots 36.7 percent from the field and 26.4 percent on threes.

#30 - Sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (6-11, 225 pounds) — The sophomore is averaging 4.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 12.4 minutes per game rebounds per game from the power forward position. He is shooting 42.2 percent from the field and has made five of his 25 three-point attempts on the season.

#41 - Sophomore forward Thomas Kithier (6-8, 230 pounds) — Plays 13.3 minutes per game, averaging 3.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists. He shoots 64.7 percent from the field.

#0 - Redshirt senior guard / forward Kyle Ahrens (6-6, 210 pounds) — Ahrens averages 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game, and shoots 42.3 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three.

#1 - Sophomore guard Foster Loyer (6-0, 175 pounds) — Loyer plays 8.3 minutes per game, averaging 3.8 points and 113 assists while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 50 percent on threes.

#3 - Senior guard Zavier Simpson (6-0, 190) — Simpson averages 12.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He is second in the country in assists per game, with 8.2. He shoots 47.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.

#55 - Junior guard Eli Brooks (6-1, 185) — Brooks averages 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He shoots 41.2 percent from the field and 38.0 percent from three.

#21 - Freshman guard Franz Wagner (6-9, 205) — He averages 10.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Wagner shoots 40.2 percent from the field and 29.0 percent on three-pointers.

#23 - Sophomore forward Brandon Johns (6-8, 235) — Johns averages 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He shoots 49.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three.

#15 - Senior center Jon Teske (7-1, 265) — Teske averages 13.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest. He shoots 51.6 percent from the field and 25.9 percent from three.

Off The Bench

#0 - Sophomore guard David DeJulius (6-0, 190) — He averages 7.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in 21.4 minutes. He shoots 41.0 percent from the field and 36.7 percent on three-pointers.

#51 - Redshirt junior forward Austin Davis (6-10, 250) — Davis averages 4.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in 9.8 minutes. He shoots 70.5 percent from the field.

#11 - Sophomore forward Colin Castleton (6-11, 235) — Castleton averages 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in 8.9 minutes, while shooting 52.2 percent from the field.

#5 - Sophomore guard Adrien Nunez (6-6, 210) — Nunez averages 2.4 points per game in 8.6 minutes per contest. He is shooting 26.8 percent from long range.

Injury

Junior forward Isaiah Livers returned four games ago against Illinois after missing the previous six games with a groin injury. He started, and played 19 minutes, notching seven points and five rebounds. He reaggravated the injury early in the second half, and is back to being "day to day." Livers has missed the last three games, but is nearing a return, as he practiced fully on Thursday, and said there's a possibility he plays on Saturday. He averages 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game for the Wolverines.

Simpson is one of the better on-ball defenders in the country, and he'll be tasked with primarily guarding Winston, who scored 32 against U-M in the first meeting. In previous matchups, Winston doesn't typically guard Simpson, whose quickness, ball handling and passing ability prove to be too much for many that go up against him.

Kenpom has predicted Michigan State to pull off a road victory, 72-71, and gives each team a 50 percent chance to claim victory.

"It’s been a bit of an odd development considering the way they played early in the season in a win at Seton Hall," Charboneau said. "Since Big Ten play began, however, the slow starts on the road have been a killer. The Purdue loss stands as the outlier – a game MSU was awful in from start to finish. Since then, slow starts at Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin were overcome for the most part. MSU rallied to take the lead at Indiana, blew out Minnesota and was within three at Wisconsin. So, the key against Michigan is two-fold – avoid a slow start by getting some easy looks and stop turning the ball over. The Spartans are among the worst in the Big Ten in turnovers and it has led directly to nearly every loss this season."