The Spartans Come to Town
In the midst of, uh, everything else surrounding the program right now, Indiana has its final regular season game of the year with Michigan State coming to town.
This is the first meeting between these two teams this season, but both Bart Torvik and Kenpom have this one as a narrow victory for the Spartans.
Sunday is also Senior Day at Assembly Hall, and the program is expected to honor Anthony Walker, Xavier Johnson, Anthony Leal, and Trey Galloway. The latter two may still return for another season despite participating in the ceremonies, as Race Thompson did.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game:
When is the game and how can I watch?
Game Date/Time: Sunday, March 9rd, 4:30 p.m. EST
Location: Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
TV: CBS
Radio: WHCC 105.1 / WIUX 99.1
Game Notes
Indiana (17-14, 9-10 Big Ten) Indiana is currently on a three game winning streak, its first against high major opponents all season.
Mackenzie Mgbako and Kel’el Ware have been playing their best ball of the season and Xavier Johnson has given Indiana’s backcourt some much needed speed and athleticism.
Outside of that, it would be an understatement to say that there’s some uncertainty surrounding the program right now. With the news of Liam McNeely’s decommitment, Indiana is down to 0 incoming players this offseason.
The stated plan is to let Mike Woodson and Indiana’s NIL do the heavy lifting in the portal to piece together a competitive team next year, but there could be a lot of empty roster spots. For that reason, the decision to keep Woodson has not exactly been popular with fans.
So far, this hasn’t bothered the guys on the floor, as they’ve played their best basketball of the season over the last week or so. There’s also the incentive of winning for the seniors on Senior Night.
I really don’t know what version of Indiana we will get tomorrow, so add that to the list of uncertainties right now.
Michigan State (19-12, 11-9 Big Ten) Probably the last thing anyone wants to see is a desperate Tom Izzo team in March.
Bart Torvik currently has a seven seed, but a loss to an Indiana team that the computers hate would certainly be a ding in Michigan State’s resume, even on the road. A loss to Indiana would be Michigan State’s first quadrant three loss on the season.
Before beating Northwestern in East Lansing Wednesday, the Spartans had been on a three-game losing streak. In addition to its tournament resume, Michigan State will be playing to build momentum for a Big Ten Tournament that will mean far more for them than Indiana.
The Spartans come to town with the 11th most efficient defense, per Kenpom. This will challenge Indiana, but it’s worth noting that the Hoosiers put up 80 against another top 10 defense in Maryland last week.