Tom Izzo Has Spartans Fighting For A Big Ten Title With Two Games Left

Tom Izzo Has Spartans Fighting For A Big Ten Title With Two Games Left

The No. 24 Michigan State Spartans went on the road this past weekend and clobbered the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins 78-66. The win improves the Spartans record to 20-9 (12-6) on the season. The Spartans are now in the hunt for the Big Ten title with just two regular-season games remaining.

The team will return to the hard-court Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in State College, Pennsylvania against Penn State. They will be taking on the No. 14 Nittany Lions. It can be seen on ESPN at 7:00 PM ET.

The above video is Tom Izzo’s entire weekly press conference from earlier today.

Michigan State men’s basketball super SID Mex Carey gives us five quick notes on this game:

1. Series History

Michigan State leads the all-time series with Penn State, 39-9 ... The Spartans have won 23 of the last 29 games in the series, including 10 of the last 12 ... Tom Izzo is 32-8 in his career against Penn State ... Michigan State is 15-4 in games played in University Park and has won four of the last five games on the road ... The Nittany Lions won the first meeting of the season between the teams, 75-70, on Feb. 4 at the Breslin Center.

2. Last Meeting with Penn State

Michigan State took a three-point lead late in the game, but could not hold on as Penn State pulled out a 75-70 win on Feb. 4 ... Cassius Winston scored 25 points and had nine assists to lead the Michigan State, while Xavier Tillman added nine points, 11 rebounds, two assists, and five blocked shots ... The Spartans took a 66-63 lead on a 3-pointer from Winston with 5:29 to play, but a jumper from Lamar Stevens gave PSU a 67-66 lead ... A pair of free throws gave PSU a 69-66 lead before Aaron Henry hit a jumper to cut the lead to one ... Winston hit a layup and was fouled with 11 seconds left to make it 71-70, but his free throw was off the mark and Nittany Lions hit four free throws to seal the win.

3. MSU Reaches 20 Wins for Ninth-Straight Season

When Michigan State won at Maryland on Feb. 29, it marked the team’s 20th win this season ... MSU now has won 20 games in nine-straight seasons under Head Coach Tom Izzo ... Izzo has 20 20-win seasons at Michigan State and has missed the plateau only once since 2003-04.

4. Tillman Named to CoSIDA Academic All-District 5 First Team

Xavier Tillman was selected to the Academic All-District 5 First Team by the College Sports Information Director of America (CoSIDA) on Feb. 20 ... First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® ballot ... First-, second- and third-team (if applicable) Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in mid-March ... Tillman, a communication major, carries a 3.627 cumulative grade-point average ... Tillman was the recipient of the Student-Athlete Support Services Provost Award in 2019, which is presented to the male and female freshman or sophomore student-athlete who embodies the characteristics of academic performance, community involvement and leadership ability ... In addition, he has been selected to the Dean’s List four times, was the recipient of the Scholar-Athlete Award in 2020, as well as earning High Honors on the Honor Roll in the Spring of 2019 and Student-Athlete of the Month honors.

5. About the Spartans

Senior guard Cassius Winston leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 18.5 points per game … Winston is also fourth in the league in assists (5.8 APG), first in free throw percentage, connecting on 86.5 percent of his shots (109-of-126), ninth in field goal percentage (43.4%), first in 3-point percentage (42.5%) and tied for sixth in steals (1.2 SPG) ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman Sr. is second on the team with 13.3 points per game (T14th in the Big Ten) and tops the team (3rd in the Big Ten) with 10.2 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 is third on the team with 9.9 points per game, while adding 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists ... MSU has three other players averaging at least 4.0 points per game, led by freshman guard Rocket Watts, who scored a career-high 21 points at Illinois and matched that against Iowa ... He is averaging 8.3 points per game (9.1 in Big Ten games) and 2.2 rebounds ... Sophomore forward Gabe Brown is averaging 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds and scored a career-high 17 points at Nebraska ... ... Freshman forward Malik Hall, who has started eight games and scored 16 points and had six rebounds at Maryland, is averaging 4.7 points and 3.7 rebounds.

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