Buckeye Shootaround — #19 Ohio State at #16 Michigan State | Tip-Off Time, TV, Lineups

The No. 19 Ohio State Buckeyes (21-9, 11-8) head to East Lansing, Michigan on Sunday to take on the No. 16 Michigan State Spartans (21-9, 13-6). The Spartans have won four in a row and five of six. The Buckeyes, meanwhile, have also won four in a row, and six of their last seven. This is the first and only regular season meeting between these two teams, as this is also the regular season finale for both squads.

Opening Tip

Who: Ohio State at Michigan State

What: Men’s Basketball

Where: East Lansing, MI — The Breslin Center

When: Sunday 4:30 pm (CBS)

Why: Because it’s been almost eight years to the day since OSU’s last win in East Lansing.

Line: Michigan State -7

The Ohio State Buckeyes

Three-Point Territory

+ Michigan State leads the all-time series with Ohio State 71-57. The Buckeyes are 37-24 in Columbus and 17-42 in East Lansing. The teams have met eight times on a neutral court with Michigan State owning a 5-3 record in those games. Ranked Ohio State teams are 22- 14 against the Spartans while MSU is 25-10 when ranked in games vs. the Buckeyes. When both teams are ranked when facing one another, MSU leads 9-7. Andre Wesson has faced the Spartans a team-leading six times. He averages 5.2 points and 3.0 boards. Kaleb Wesson contributes 13.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in four career meetings with Michigan State.

+ Freshman E.J. Liddell, an Illinois native, recorded his first career double-double this past week vs. the Illini with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The last Ohio State freshman to record a double-double was Kaleb Wesson vs. Illinois Feb. 4, 2018 with 10/10 in a 75-67 win in Columbus. Liddell tied his career high in points with 17 and also set a career high for rebounds with 11.

+ In the last four games vs. Top 25 foes, all in Big Ten Conference play (vs. No. 20 Iowa, No. 7 Maryland, No. 19 Michigan and No. 23 Illinois), Ohio State has had fi ve players average 10 or more points. Kaleb Wesson (14.5), Duane Washington Jr. (14.3 ppg.), CJ Walker (13.3), Andre Wesson (10.8 ppg.) and E.J. Liddell (10.0 ppg,) all have been consistent recently vs. the ranked. The Buckeyes are 4-0 vs. Top 10 teams this season and, again, five Buckeyes average 10 or more points in those games.

…………………………………………..Vs. 4 Top 10        Vs. 9 Top 25
Washington Jr…………………………13.3 ppg……………..12.9 ppg.
Carton…………………………………….11.3 ppg………………10.2 ppg.
K. Wesson……………………………….11.3 ppg………………13.3 ppg.
Muhammad…………………………….10.5 ppg……………….7.3 ppg.
Walker……………………………………10.3 ppg………………10.6 ppg.

The Michigan State Spartans

What You Need To Know

+ Senior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game. Winston is also fourth in the league in assists (5.9 apg), first in free throw percentage, connecting on 85.5 percent of his shots (112-of-131), eighth in field goal percentage (43.9%), first in 3-point percentage (42.6%) and tied for sixth in steals (1.2 spg). He is one of only seven Division I players averaging at least 18.0 points, 5.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds per game.

+ Junior forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) is second on the team with 13.7 points per game (T12th in the Big Ten) and tops the team (3rd in the Big Ten) with 10.4 rebounds per game, while adding 3.0 assists (T14th in the Big Ten) per game and 2.1 blocks per game (4th in the Big Ten). Tillman is the only player in the league in the top-15 in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks.

+ Sophomore forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) is third on the team with 9.9 points per game, while adding 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists.

+ MSU has four other players averaging at least 4.0 points per game, led by freshman guard Rocket Watts (Detroit, Mich./SPIRE Academy [Ohio], who scored a career-high 21 points at Illinois and matched that against Iowa. He is averaging 8.7 points per game (9.6 in Big Ten games) and 2.2 rebounds.

+ Sophomore forward Gabe Brown (Ypsilanti, Mich./Belleville) is averaging 7.0 points and 3.7 rebounds and freshman forward Malik Hall (Aurora, Ill./Sunrise Christian Academy [Kan.]), who has started the last nine games, is averaging 4.7 points and 3.6 rebounds.