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Official Game Thread #14 Michigan State Falls 75-70 Vs. #20 Penn State

Official Game Thread #14 Michigan State Falls 75-70 Vs. #20 Penn State
Hondo S. Carpenter Sr.|
Official Game Thread #14 Michigan State Falls 75-70 Vs. #20 Penn State
Official Game Thread #14 Michigan State Falls 75-70 Vs. #20 Penn State

Breslin Center

East Lansing, MI

The #16 Michigan State Spartans lost to the Wisconsin Badgers 64-63. The loss took the men in green’s season record and conference record to 16-6 (8-3).

The team returns to the hard-court tonight, here in East Lansing, at the Breslin Center. They will be taking on Penn State. It can be seen on BTN at 8:00 PM ET.

Here are five quick notes about the game courtesy of MSU men's basketball SID Mex Carey:

  1. Series History Michigan State leads the all-time series with Penn State, 39-8 ... The Spartans have won 23 of the last 28 games in the series, including 10 of the last 11 ... Tom Izzo is 32-7 in his career against Penn State ... Michigan State is 23-1 all-time at home against the Nittany Lions, including a 19-1 record at the Breslin Center ... Penn State’s lone win at the Breslin Center was a 72-68 decision on Feb. 1, 2009 ... MSU has won the last seven games played at home.

2. Last Meeting with Penn State Nick Ward recorded his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds and led three players in double figures as then-No. 6 Michigan State held on for a 71-56 win over Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center on Jan. 13, 2019 ... Matt McQuaid added 15 points, including 12 in the second half, while Cassius Winston added 11 points and six assists and Kenny Goins chipped in seven points and 10 rebounds ... The Spartans led by 16 points (40-24) at the break and Penn State was able to pull within 10 points in the second half, but a 10-2 run capped by 3-pointers from Winston and McQuaid gave MSU its biggest lead, 63-42.

3. About the Spartans Senior guard Cassius Winston leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 18.2 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 (76-of-86), 11th in field goal percentage (43.4%) and fourth in 3-point percentage (39.5%) ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman is second on the team with 13.5 points per game (16th in the Big Ten) and tops the team (3rd in the Big Ten) with 10.1 rebounds per game, while adding 3.3 assists (11th in the Big Ten) per game and 2.0 blocks per game (T6th 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 9.4 points per game, while adding 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists (T15th in the Big Ten) ... MSU has four other players averaging at least 4.0 points per game, led by sophomore forward Gabe Brown, who is averaging 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds ... Freshman guard Rocket Watts, who scored a career-high 16 points at Wisconsin, adds 7.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists ...Freshman forward Malik Hall, who has started the last three games, is averaging 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds, and sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr., is averaging 4.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.

4. Winston Selected as One of 10 Finalists for Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award Cassius Winston was one of 10 players selected to the Watch List for the 2020 Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award ... Named after Class of 1971 Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic and Holy Cross guard Bob Cousy, the annual honor now in its 17th year recognizes the top point guards in Division I men’s college basketball ... A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined the original watch list of 20 candidates ... In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Cousy and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.

5. Winston Breaks Michigan State and Big Ten All-Time Record for Career Assists Senior guard Cassius Winston handed out four assists in the win over Wisconsin on Jan. 17 and became the all-time leader in assists at Michigan State and in the Big Ten Conference ... Winston’s 817 career assists (he now has 834) broke the career record – and Big Ten mark – of 816, held for 20 years by former Spartan Mateen Cleaves ... Winston, who has scored 1,794 career points and ranks among the top-10 all-time in scoring at MSU, is the first player in Big Ten history to score at least 1,600 points and hand out at least 800 assists.  

Michigan Sta is ranked #16 in the Associated Press Top 25 and #14 in the Coaches poll.

Make sure you constantly update this story for the latest highlights and information from the game and comment along in the comment section as the game progresses!

STARTERS:  WINSTON, HENRY, HALL, BROWN, AND TILLMAN

Thomas Kithier has the flu and will not play tonight.

UPDATE 1st media timeout of the 1st half and #14 Michigan State leads #20 Penn State by a score of 12-7.  15:09

UPDATE 2nd media timeout of the 1st half and #14 Michigan State trails #20 Penn State by a score of 15-16. 11:43

UPDATE 3rd media timeout of the 1st half and #14 Michigan State trails #20 Penn State by a score of 21-22. 7:00

UPDATE FINAL media timeout of the 1st half and #14 Michigan State trails #20 Penn State by a score of 28-31. 3:57

Halftime stats and score:

MSU vs PSU half

UPDATE 1st media timeout of the 2nd half has the #14 Michigan State Spartans trailing #20 Penn State 51-43  15:40

UPDATE 2nd media timeout of the 2nd half has the #14 Michigan State Spartans tied with #20 Penn State 55-55 10:55

UPDATE 3rd media timeout of the 2nd half has the #14 Michigan State Spartans trails #20 Penn State 60-61 7:55

UPDATE FINAL media timeout of the 2nd half has the #14 Michigan State Spartans leads #20 Penn State 66-65 3:59

Spartans Upset 75-70

MSU PSU FINAL 020420

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Hondo S. Carpenter Sr.
HONDO S. CARPENTER SR.

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