With the season barreling towards the conclusion of the regular season, Michigan is set to battle in-state rival Michigan State Sunday afternoon at the Crisler Center.
The rivalry game will tip off at 3:50 p.m. and can be seen on CBS with Spero Dedes, Bill Raftery and Grant Hill on the call.
Sunday’s contest will be the 188th all-time meeting between these two teams and U-M holds a 106-81 record in the all-time series. The Wolverines have won three straight games in the series. Michigan is 67-30 all-time against the Spartans in games played at Crisler Center.
With both teams coming into Sunday ranked, it will only be the 14th time ever that the two teams have faced each ranked in the top-25. In those previous 13 matchups, Michigan State has won seven times, while Michigan has won six times.
Michigan State comes into Ann Arbor with a 22-5 overall record and a 13-3 record in conference play. The Spartans are 9-4 on the road this season, including a 6-2 mark in Big Ten road games.
Junior point guard Cassius Winston leads the Spartans scoring 18.9 points per game and adding 7.4 assists per game. His 7.4 assists per game lead the Big Ten and rank fourth nationally and his offensive rating of 122.5 is the eightieth best in college basketball. His assist rate of 43.4 is the third best in college basketball.
Not only is Winston great at setting up his teammates, he’s one of Michigan State’s best three-point shooters. His three-point percentage of 43.4 is the 101st best in the country.
Michigan State will be without its second-leading scorer junior forward Nick Ward who was averaging 15.1 points per game. He suffered a hand injury against Ohio State on Feb. 17 that required surgery.
Senior guard Matt McQuaid is the Spartans top three-point shooter by percentage at 44.1 percent. This percentage is the 75th best in college basketball and his offensive rating of 123.0 is the 80th best in college basketball.
Fifth-year senior forward Kenny Goins is pulling down an team-best 9.0 rebounds per game, while averaging 7.2 points. His offensive rebounding percentage of 23.1 is the 98th best in the country.
Sophomore center Xavier Tillman has an offensive rebounding percentage of 13.0, which is the 63rd best in the nation and his block percentage of 7.4 is the 81st best in the nation. He is shooting 68.3 percent from two, which is the 14th best in college basketball.
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @BSB_Wolverine, @JB_ Wolverine, @AustinFox42, @Balas_Wolverine, @DrewCHallett and @Qb9Adam.
• Like us on Facebook
