WATCH: Michigan State's Matt Basgall Talks Big Ten Tournament Championship
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State junior defenseman Matt Basgall is in his third season with the program and has been integral to its rise back to prominence.
From being on a team that went 18-18-2 in his freshman season to one that has now won back-to-back regular season conference titles, Basgall has seen the highs and lows of this program.
On Saturday, he and the Spartans have a chance to win a second-straight Big Ten Tournament title when they host Ohio State at Munn Ice Arena.
While it isn't the ultimate goal, it would be another significant step toward getting there.
Basgall discussed the upcoming matchup when he addressed the media on Wednesday. You can watch some of his availability below:
Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale also spoke to reporters on Wednesday. Below is a transcript from his opening statement:
Nightingale: "Well, it was a good weekend. I thought, obviously, Munn was rocking, and we were playing a team that was hot and playing some really good hockey. And I think our guys stayed with it; I think that's the message to our guys is playoff hockey's hard, and so, you know you can't expect offense to be easy. And we had to work for it to stay with it.
"I didn't think we deviated. And that's a good reminder for us down the stretch and how we need to play. And obviously, playing a really good Ohio State team coming into Munn here. Ton of respect for their team, their program. And I think they're really well-coached. They're built really similar to us [with] the depth. They have good goaltending.
"But excited about our guys getting an opportunity to play another game at Munn, right? That in order to do that, you got to win the regular season, which we did, and they got to win another game, so now, we got a chance to play another game in front of our home crowd."
Michigan State comes off a 1-0 victory over Notre Dame in the semifinal round, where Ohio State defeated Penn State.
Saturday's game between the Spartans and Buckeyes is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
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