Mark ROCKET Watts Excited For Maryland & Gameday
Breslin Center
East Lansing, MI
The #25 Michigan State Spartans are 17-8 (9-5) and will return to the hard-court Saturday, February 15, 2020, in East Lansing at the Breslin Center. They will be taking on the Maryland Terrapins. It can be seen on ESPN at 6:00 PM ET. ESPN Gameday will be on location that morning.
In the above video Rocket Watts looks forward to the Terrapins and ESPN College Gameday being on campus. Below are five quick points about the game courtesy of MSU super basketball SID Mex Carey:
1. Series History
Michigan State leads the all-time series with Maryland, 9-5 ... The Spartans have won six of the last seven games against the Terrapins ... Tom Izzo is 8-5 in his career against Maryland ... The two teams have met just four times in East Lansing, with MSU winning the last three games ... The teams played only once last year, a 69-55 MSU win on Jan. 21.
2. Tillman’s Late Dunk Lifts Michigan State Past No. 22 Illinois
Xavier Tillman scored a put-back dunk with 6.6 seconds left to lift the Spartans over No. 22 Illinois, 70-69, in a Big Ten men’s basketball game inside State Farm Arena late Tuesday evening ... Rocket Watts led four Spartans in double figures with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while Tillman added 17 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, sophomore Aaron Henry finished with 13 points and three rebounds and senior guard Cassius Winston added 12 points and two assists.
3. About the Spartans
Senior guard Cassius Winston 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 (5.7 apg), first in free throw percentage, connecting on 86.0 percent of his shots (92-of-107), 10th in field goal percentage (42.4%), third in 3-point percentage (38.6%) and tied for second in steals (1.3 spg) ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman is second on the team with 13.6 points per game (T14th in the Big Ten) and tops the team (2nd in the Big Ten) with 10.2 rebounds per game, while adding 3.1 assists (13th in the Big Ten) per game and 2.1 blocks per game (T4th 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 9.5 points per game, while adding 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists ... MSU has four 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, who is averaging 7.9 points per game (8.7 in Big Ten games) ... Sophomore forward Gabe Brown is averaging 7.5 points and 3.9 rebounds ... Freshman forward Malik Hall, who has started the last five games, is averaging 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds, and sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr. is averaging 4.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
4. Winston Named to Midseason Watch Lists for Robertson, Naismith Awards
Cassius Winston was named to the midseason watch lists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy and the for the Citizen Naismith Trophy on Feb. 13 ... The U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Winston one of 12 players to the Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List ... The award will be presented by its namesake at the NCAA Final Four in Atlanta in April ... Winston was one of 30 players recognized on the Citizen Naismith Trophy list by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The 10 semifinalists for the award will be announced on March 5, with the finalists revealed on March 17 ... The winner of the 2020 Citizen Naismith Trophy for Men’s Player of the Year will be announced on April 5 at the Naismith Awards Brunch in Atlanta ... This is the third national recognition in the last week for Winston, as he was selected to the Late Season Top 20 Watch List for the John R. Wooden Award® by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
5. Xavier Tillman Named Finalist for Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year
Xavier Tillman was named one of 10 candidates for the 2020 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday ... Named after Class of 2010 Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Karl Malone, the annual honor in its sixth year recognizes the top power forwards in Division I men’s college basketball ... A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the watch list of 20 candidates in October, which has now been narrowed to just 10 ... Tillman is second on Michigan State in scoring with 13.3 points per game and leads the team, and ranks second in the Big Ten Conference, with 10.1 rebounds per game ... Tillman is also second on the team with 3.2 assists (11th in the Big Ten) and leads the team with 2.2 blocks (fourth in the Big Ten).
Tell us what you think in the comment section below.
Want the latest breaking MSU news delivered straight to your email for FREE? Sign up for the DAILY Spartan Nation newsletter when you CLICK THE MAGAZINE ICON at the top left of the page or the FOLLOW button back on the main page. Don’t miss any of the latest up to the second updates on Michigan State Sports when you follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter & @JDeuceDullack
