Michigan State basketball: Series history vs. Michigan

Michigan State basketball comes into this game with a deficit in the all-time series, but the Spartans have had the better season.

It’s rivalry time. Michigan State basketball is set to host the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday night at the Breslin Center. Michigan heads into this game as one of the worst teams in the conference, but that doesn’t decrease my excitement for this game.

Let’s take a look at the series history between these programs before the game gets here.

Michigan comfortably leads the series

I was a little surprised to see how much Michigan leads the all time series by. Tuesday night marks the 193rd meeting in this series and Michigan holds a 104-88 series edge. A lot of this lead for Michigan comes from games from the early 1900s, but each win still counts nonetheless.

The last meeting between these teams saw the Wolverines come away with an 84-72 win in Ann Arbor. Michigan State did win the first meeting last season, so the team’s did split the season series. That has actually been the case each of the last four years, with each team winning at home and losing on the road the last four seasons.

Five years ago however, the Spartans, en route to their most recent Final Four, beat the Wolverines three times. They beat Michigan twice in the regular season then in the Big Ten tournament championship game to go 3-0 against the team down the road that season. With how bad Michigan is this season, I hope we witness another season sweep this year.

Michigan season update

The Wolverines are off to one of the worst starts in recent program history. They come into this game with a 7-13 overall record and a 2-7 Big Ten record. This includes two horrific losses at home to Long Beach State and McNeese State.

The Wolverines are also on a three-game losing streak, with their most recent loss coming to Iowa at home 88-78. Michigan star Dug McDaniel is also serving a suspension and will not travel with the team to East Lansing.

This game is an absolute must-win for Michigan State. A loss will be tough to overcome on Selection Sunday and a win gives Tom Izzo his 700th career win. It also is Izzo’s 69th birthday on Tuesday, so I’m sure the last present he wants is a loss to Michigan.