Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Wildcats and Spartans Tussle Thursday at Welsh-Ryan
1/27/2016 1:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION | |||||
| DATE | OPPONENT | TIME | LOCATION | BROADCAST | LIVE STATS |
| Thu., Jan. 28 | Michigan State | 8 p.m. | Welsh-Ryan Arena | ESPN and WatchESPN | SIDEARM |
| 720 WGN, Sirius 84, XM 84: Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer ESPN: Rece Davis and Jim Calhoun Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) | Instagram (@numensbball) | Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern | Michigan State | |||||
WATCH: Coach Collins Preview | B. McIntosh and A. Olah Preview
Skip Myslenski's Preview
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern faces another challenging foe Thursday as No. 12/11 Michigan State comes to Welsh-Ryan Arena for an 8 p.m. tip.
The Wildcats (15-6, 3-5 B1G) are in the midst of playing four straight games against ranked opponents. It is the fourth time in school history that Northwestern has played four consecutive games vs. teams ranked in the Associated Press poll, but the first time since the 1989-90 season.
Thursday's matchup features two of the top teams nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. Michigan State ranks fourth in the category (1.68) while Northwestern is right behind the Spartans, ranking fifth (1.63).
NU is coming off an 89-57 loss at then-No. 25/23 Indiana on Saturday. Alex Olah came off the bench to connect on 9 of 12 field goal attempts to lead all scorers with 19 points while fellow senior Tre Demps added 17 points.
Northwestern sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh enters Thursday's game with 148 assists this season, nine shy of the NU single-season record of 157 established by Tim Doyle during the 2006-07 campaign. McIntosh ranks eighth nationally and first in the Big Ten with an average of 7.0 assists per game.
Despite not playing in the team's first 12 games of the season due to the intent to redshirt, freshman center Dererk Pardon has been tremendous since. In Big Ten play, Pardon leads the league with a .714 field goal percentage (35-49). He has made 14 of his 17 field goal attempts over the last three games (.824).
Michigan State won both matchups between the teams last season, winning 84-77 in overtime in East Lansing on Jan. 11 before posting a 68-44 victory Feb. 10 in Evanston.
Scouting Michigan State
The Spartans (17-4, 4-4) snapped a three-game losing streak by posting a 74-65 home win over Maryland on Saturday. Bryn Forbes scored a game-high 25 points while Denzel Valentine contributed 19 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists. Valentine is an All-America candidate who averages 18.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game. Michigan State ranks second in the nation in both rebound margin (+12.0) and assists per game (20.0). Tom Izzo is in his 21st season as the head coach of the Spartans.
