Michigan, MSU Basketball Teams on Massive Collision Course
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Friday is set to be one of the biggest games at the Breslin Center in some time.
Michigan State vs. Michigan. Two teams inside the nation’s top 10 and two teams that are right in the race for a Big Ten title. MSU enters the week 18-2 overall and 8-1 during Big Ten play. The Wolverines are 18-1 and 8-1, respectively.
Both of these teams have one more game before they see each other for the 197th time. The Spartans play at Rutgers on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. ET, FS1). Michigan hosts 20-0 Nebraska that night, too. Both teams from the Mitten are favorites, though — KenPom gives MSU a 92% chance to beat Rutgers and UM a 78% chance to unseat the Cornhuskers.
The last top-10 matchup between Michigan and Michigan State in East Lansing was the 2019 regular season finale, where the two teams played for a share of the Big Ten title. MSU won that game, 75-63. This matchup won’t have stakes as direct as that one, but these stakes are a little deeper than that.
Dusty May vs. Tom Izzo
Michigan has seen a tremendous two-season turnaround under head coach Dusty May. Any hatred for the Wolverines can momentarily be put aside to acknowledge that May has done a great job there.
Juwan Howard plunged UM to rock bottom with an 8-24 season in 2023-24. May quickly got the program back on its feet and then some last season, winning the Big Ten Tournament, getting a 5 seed in the Big Dance, and then reaching the Sweet 16. This year, Michigan is undoubtedly a national title contender and has looked nearly unstoppable at times.
Then there’s Tom Izzo. He’s en route to making the NCAA Tournament for the 28th consecutive time. Izzo has also found a way to restore his program to its old standard. MSU won the regular season title by three games last season — sweeping May and UM in the process — and finished ranked seventh nationally after being unranked at the conclusion of the prior four seasons. This year’s team has a chance to go back-to-back and is currently a projected 3 seed by most bracketologists.
It’s old vs. new in a lot of ways. Izzo’s 71st birthday is Friday, the day of the game. May turned 49 earlier this season. Michigan State’s roster is built largely the old-school way; 87.5% of the Spartans’ points this season have come from players who have only played for MSU. Michigan is much more new-school; just 26.8% of its points has been from players who didn’t transfer in.
“Control” over rivalries is a little overblown sometimes, but there is no doubt MSU has it right now. The sweep of Michigan last year not only helped make the difference between the Spartans and the rest of the conference, but it may have helped set a tone in the new rivalry between Izzo and May. Michigan State has won the last four overall meetings, but it hasn’t lost to the Wolverines in East Lansing since 2018, having won seven straight at the Breslin Center since.
But some grace should be given to May last year, given that it was Year 1. Even in the transfer portal era, complete turnarounds usually take two years or more. The expected slope of progression has increased from the past, but we still haven’t seen a truly gargantuan one-year turnaround. Indiana football is the closest thing, but that first Hoosiers team was exposed at the end of the 2024 season by Ohio State and Notre Dame as a team that wasn’t really a national title contender. That, of course, changed one year later.
This year is the real chance for Izzo and Michigan State to re-assert itself as the dominant program in the state. Let Michigan even earn a split and then perhaps a Big Ten title, and then maybe a deeper run into March Madness, and that narrative shifts instantly. It’s the social media era now: all those other years MSU beat Michigan, finished above the Wolverines in the conference standings, and then went further into the tournament (if UM made it) don’t matter anymore. It’s about which team has the momentum now.
It’s set to be a great one on Friday night. KenPom currently considers the game to be a literal coin flip — 50/50 odds in either direction. Heads or tails, the result will have a big impact on both of these teams’ seasons and futures.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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