Pregame Glance: Michigan State

The Buckeyes were just about caught looking ahead to MSU against a game Boilermaker squad the other night. They pulled out in the end and were finally able to focus on the Michigan State Spartans. Let’s focus on them as well.

Pre-season Preview of Michigan State

SERIES INFORMATION WITH MICHIGAN ST.

Series …………………………………..MSU leads 58-51

Games at Ohio State …………………OSU leads 33-21      

Games at Michigan State ……………MSU leads 36-16

Neutral Games ……………………….Ohio State leads 2-1      

Last OSU Win ………………………..71-61 (2/15/11, Columbus) 

Last MSU Win ………………………..78-67 (1/25/09, Columbus) 

Longest OSU win streak ……………6 (1960-63) 

Longest OSU home win streak …….15 (1910-1963)      

Longest OSU away win streak …….3 (1960-62) 

Longest MSU win streak ……………14 (1973-80)  

Longest MSU home win streak ……9 (1973-1981) 

Longest MSU away win streak ……6 (1974-79) 

Current Series Streak ……………….OSU W-2 

Ranked OSU teams vs. MSU ………19-8  

OSU vs. ranked MSU teams ……….6-15 

OSU when both teams are ranked ..4-4

Michigan State didn’t start their season off in the fashion that head coach Tom Izzo would like.  Having lost their first two games to start a season against UNC and Duke, the Spartans went on a roll winning their next fifteen straight before dropping back to back games again. Northwestern and Michigan took their match-ups with the Spartans on their courts but MSU returned the favor to TTUN at home and doesn’t play Northwestern again this season.

The Ohio State Buckeyes have had just about everything happen good and bad in their games this season. What has been referred to as “Murderers Row” here at the BBC, is quite possibly an understatement!  Beginning with TTUN on January 29th at home, the buckeyes face six ranked opponents out of the ten to finish the season and still have trips to Ann Arbor and East Lansing on the slate.

As match ups go, this is the first of two regular season games that will go a long way to decide the B1G title. William Burford is coming off his best game ever after scoring a career high 29 against Purdue.In that same game we saw Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger spend the biggest part of the end of the game on the bench. It was a great time for the second team to see action. The Buckeye Nuthouse has made the Schott a difficult place to play, but they don’t have to guard Draymond Green who is averaging a double/double at 15.2 and 10.6. The do all senior is the go to guy for the Spartans and presents some issues for the Buckeyes. I look for Lenzelle Smith Jr. to draw this task early and he should make things rough sledding for Green.

Offensively, the Buckeyes and the Spartans are in the top three in every category in the B1G. The Buckeyes are second in scoring with  76.9 a game,third in assists at 15.8, second in rebounding at 36.8 and second in field goal percentage at 49.1 The Spartans come in fourth in scoring at 73.8, first in assists at 16.2, first in rebounds at 40.1 and third in field goal percentage at 47.5.

Defensively , they are both still in the top three in the B1G and this is where something will have to give as both are in the top-tier for defenses in the nation. The Buckeyes only give up 56.6 points a game which is 7th in the nation and second in the conference.  They’re fierce on the boards as well on defense, hauling in 29.3 at thirteenth nationally and second in the conference. The place they have struggled on the season, but not badly, is allowing teams to shoot at a 39.7 percent rate in field goal, placing them 33rd nationally but second in the B1G.

The Spartans allow 59 points a game and are fourth in the B1G ten, but are first in rebounding allowed at 29.2 a game and eighth nationally in that category. They’re allowing teams to shoot at a 37.9 percentage which come in 10th nationally and third in the conference.

Both teams are high on the assists allowed list which is ranked in reverse order nationally and in the conference. The Spartans give up 10.7 assists which is first in the conference as being the worst and 48th nationally compared to the best. The Buckeyes are relatively efficient here, third in the conference at 9.0 but rank seventh nationally in a good way.

This match up will come down to two things. First and foremost is whether or not either defensive minded team will be allowed to play the way they are accustomed to since both play a very physical style of defense. The tone could be set early for the ball handlers as the Buckeyes have the decided advantage in Aaron Craft. We’ve seen a trend of officials putting the brakes on him of  late as evidenced by his foul trouble against Purdue.

Secondly, it will be decided in the trenches. Jared Sullinger has been the workhorse of this team and finished the other night against Purdue having been dinged up a bit. He is a physical specimen and obviously can handle the task at hand. It will be interesting to see whether Coach Izzo decides to use his best player in Draymond Green to help with Sullinger and risk foul trouble or do what he does best and try to get separation and pull Sullinger away from the basket.

Either way, its #1 versus #2 in the B1G at the Schott and it will be one of the best games of the season in the conference and quite possibly nationally. All eyes will be on Columbus this Saturday as these two try to bring down the house!  You’ll be able to find the game on ESPN at 6 PM EST.