• What: Michigan State at Indiana
• When: 3:45 p.m. Sunday
• Where: Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana
• TV/Radio: CBS/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; SiriusXM Ch. 85 (MSU broadcast), 392 (Indiana broadcast)
• Records/Rankings: MSU is 23-5 overall and 13-4 in the Big Ten, and ranked No. 13 by both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches poll. The Spartans are No. 12 in the NET rankings and No. 9 per the college basketball analytics site Kenpom.com. Indiana is also 17-11 overall, 8-9 in the Big Ten, and unranked in both major polls, while being No. 38 in the NET rankings and No. 43 by Kenpom.
• Betting line: MSU -3.5
• Coaches: Michigan State — Tom Izzo is 760-307 in his 31st season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Indiana — Darian DeVries is 186-79 in his eighth season as a head coach. This is DeVries’ first season with the Hoosiers, after one year at West Virginia and six seasons at Drake before that.
• Series: Indiana leads 74-60 all-time. MSU won the first meeting this season, 81-60, on Jan. 13 in East Lansing.
Projected lineups
MSU
C (15) Carson Cooper (6-11) 10.3
PF (0) Jaxon Kohler (6-9) 12.3
SF (55) Coen Carr (6-5) 11.6
SG (6) Jordan Scott (6-7) 6.0
PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 15.0
Indiana
C (4) Sam Alexis (6-9) 8.2
F (12) Tucker DeVries (6-7) 13.6
F (3) Lamar Wilkerson (6-6) 21.0
G (7) Nick Dorn (6-7) 8.5
G (5) Conor Enright (6-1) 4.5
• MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a 76-74 win at Purdue that bolstered their NCAA tournament resume and improved their Big Ten tournament seeding. Now they have to make sure they don’t give it all back at Indiana. MSU is up to No. 10 in Kenpom and No. 11 in the NET rankings, and perhaps now a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, if the season ended today. The Spartans’ offensive efficiency rating moved up from the 40s to 36 with Thursday night’s win at Purdue. They remain one of the top defenses (No. 6) and among the best rebounding teams (No. 1 in defensive rebounding and 8 in offensive rebounding), despite being out-rebounded by the Boilermakers. Jeremy Fears Jr. continues to make his case for Big Ten player of the year and might have clinched first-team All-Big Ten honors with Thursday’s performance head to head with Braden Smith. Both he and Smith can be first-team selections.
• Indiana update: The Hoosiers are struggling right now, having lost three straight. The first two of those defeats were understandable, at Illinois and at Purdue, though the margins, by 20 and 29 points, were concerning. But when Indiana then also lost at home to Northwestern, 72-68, on Tuesday, it exacerbated fears that the wheels are falling all. If Indiana makes the NCAA tournament, it might only be because the bubble is weak this year. The Hoosiers could use a win over MSU in a bad way to solidify their case. Indiana does have some good wins this season — at home against Wisconsin, at UCLA and home against Purdue.
• Matchup analysis: The first time these two teams met, on Jan. 13 at Breslin Center, the Spartans obliterated the Hoosiers on the glass, 37-19. Indiana’s weaknesses are defense and rebounding. But on the Hoosiers’ day, they’re a dangerous team, because they’ve got three to four guys who can hurt you shooting from deep, including Lamar Wilkerson, who’s made 92 3-pointers this season at a clip of 38%. He had 19 points in the first matchup, but nobody else did much for Indiana. The Hoosiers struggled to contain Fears, and Jordan Scott and Kur Teng each hit three 3s. MSU could use a repeat performance out of those two.
• Prediction: MSU would be wise to hit Indiana with a decent punch early. Do that and things could spiral for the Hoosiers and the crowd could get surly. Nobody is happy in Bloomington right now. But the Hoosiers could shoot it well enough to win this game. We’ve seen the Spartans struggle on the road defending the 3-point shot.
• Make it: MSU 78, Indiana 72
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Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
