The Michigan State Preview

Date: Tuesday, February 28th

Time: 8:00pm CST

Location: Lincoln, NE

Previous Meeting: Michigan State 74 Nebraska 56

Record: 17-10 (9-7 Big Ten)

Head Coach: Tom Izzo (28th Season)

Preview:

The Spartans are heading down to Lincoln coming off of a big win at home against #17 Indiana but followed it up by a shocking 112-106 loss to Iowa on the road Saturday. The Hawkeyes hit five-straight 3-pointers to close out a double digit deficit in the closing moments and force overtime.

They currently sit in ninth place in the Big Ten and will need every win they can get to make a decent seed in the NCAA Tournament in March. They still need wins against schools like Nebraska to boost their resume.

The Spartans are lead by guard Tyson Walker. The 6’1” senior is averaging 14.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game. He is coming off nice showing against Iowa where he had a whopping 31 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists in the loss to the Hawkeyes. In the win against Nebraska he lead the Spartans with 21 points.

Next to Walker is senior Joey Hauser. Joey is a 6’9” forward who is averaging 13.9 points and 7 rebounds per game. Hauser only had 10 points in the win against Nebraska back in January, but he pulled own 10 rebounds showing that he had little issue in the paint against the Cornhuskers. Derrick Walker will have to once again throw his weight around if the Huskers want to keep this game competitive.

Also of note is A.J. Hoggard who leads the team with 5.8 assists per game while averaging 12.3 points, and 3.8 rebounds.

Nebraska’s shooting killed them the last time these two met up. The Huskers shot just 41% from the field to MSU’s 48% and a dismal 12.5% from beyond the arc. The Huskers will need to keep up the recent shooting ways and not let the Michigan State defense get to them if they want one more win at home before the conference tournament starts up in two weeks.