Michigan State basketball: Series history vs. Minnesota

Michigan State basketball will host Minnesota on Thursday night, looking to maintain some dominance in the series.

Michigan State basketball is back in action on Thursday night against Minnesota at the Breslin Center. The Gophers (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) come into this matchup on a little bit of a slump, but they will be a tough challenge nonetheless.

Before the game gets here, let’s take a quick look at the series history between these two programs.

Spartans lead the series, but not by as much as you might think

To no one’s surprise, MSU leads the all-time series with Minnesota, but it’s not by as wide of a margin as I would’ve guessed. Michigan State boasts a 72-59 record against the Gophers in their 131 matchups.

That by no means is a poor record against Minnesota, but you typically don’t think of Minnesota as being a very solid basketball program. This is typically a game you automatically mark as a win when the schedule comes out, but that’s not quite the case anymore.

Strangely enough, these two teams did not face each other last season. This is due to the on-campus shooting at Michigan State that took place days before these two were scheduled to play, and the two sides were unable to get the game rescheduled.

The last time these two teams faced off was on Jan. 12, 2022, when Michigan State won a nail-biter 71-69 in East Lansing. Joey Hauser was the hero in this game as he scored the game-winning layup with one second left. Max Christie also had a big game, finishing with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Minnesota season update

Minnesota comes into this game with a 12-5 record and a 3-3 mark in the Big Ten. A 12-5 record isn’t bad at all, however, their resume isn’t as strong as it might suggest. The Gophers don’t have a marquee win on their resume, but they do have one brutal loss to San Francisco 76-58.

The Gophers also come into this matchup riding a two-game losing streak. Those two losses have come to Indiana and Iowa, both of which aren’t very strong teams this year.

This once again feels like a must-win game for Michigan State. A win doesn’t help our resume much, but a loss certainly would destroy it. If the Spartans play their best ball, then there should be no reason they don’t win this game.