Both Michigan and Michigan State have won exactly 14 Big Ten regular-season titles throughout their respective histories, but one of them will have an opportunity to hang banner No. 15 tomorrow night when the two rivals square off in East Lansing at 8:00 PM.
The two clubs didn’t even know they’d be in position to win a championship as recently as three days ago, but Purdue’s loss at Minnesota on Tuesday night set the stage in grand fashion.
“Everyone hit our group chat that night saying Minnesota won,” sophomore guard Jordan Poole explained this afternoon. “Tomorrow night was already going to be pretty hype anyway, but the fact that it’s for a championship puts even more on it.
“There was a little more enthusiasm in practice after that. You really can’t ask for a whole lot more than this — this is the kind of stuff you see in the movies and the kind of situations you dream of being in.”
“It’s perfect,” sophomore forward Isaiah Livers chimed in. “I wouldn’t want to be playing any other team tomorrow night for the championship. This whole thing has been set up perfectly.”
Michigan and Michigan State will be closing the year against one another for the first time since 2011, a contest that was won by the Wolverines, 70-63.
Head coach John Beilein explained this afternoon he’d love to see rivalry games played on the final weekend of the regular-season every year in the Big Ten (citing Purdue/Indiana, Illinois/Northwestern as examples), simply because of the excitement and the magnitude it could potentially generate, with tomorrow night’s game being the perfect example.
A Big Ten title would not be on the line tomorrow for Michigan, however, if the club had not grabbed a huge 69-62 road win in College Park last Sunday against the Terrapins.
“We just won at a tough environment in Maryland, so hopefully we can conquer another one,” junior guard Zavier Simpson said.
“We’re playing for a championship tomorrow, so if anyone needs any more motivation than that, then they’re playing the wrong sport.
“It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The Simpson vs. Cassius Winston (MSU’s junior point guard) matchup has been discussed at length since the two last squared off in Ann Arbor just under two weeks ago — and deservedly so.
When asked about Winston today, however, Simpson wasn’t interested in discussing the two guards' individual showdown.
“As long as we play our game and do the things the coaches teach us, we’ll be in a great position to win,” he insisted. “They’re going to do whatever they’re going to do, but I just focus on our team and make sure we’re always locked in and ready to go.”
U-M appeared to be locked in during the first portion of its game with the Spartans two weeks ago, but couldn’t finish down the stretch in what resulted in a 77-70 Michigan State victory.
Payback and revenge have unsurprisingly been two words that have often surfaced over the past several days, and Livers had no interest in downplaying that notion.
“This is a big one,” he exclaimed. “They came in here and got a win in front of our crowd, so it’d be big for us to go in and get one in front of theirs.
“The feeling we had after that loss was tough, and the mood has been a little different in practice because we’re about to play our in-state rival again.”
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