Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State Plays Purdue In Big Ten Tournament Final
3/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| #2/3 Michigan State (28-5, 13-5) vs. #13/13 Purdue (26-7, 12-6) | |
| Date | Sunday, March 13, 2016 |
| Time | 3 p.m. ET |
| Location | Indianapolis, Ind. | Bankers Life Fieldhouse |
| Television | CBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill, Tracy Wolfson) |
| Radio | Spartan Sports Network (Will Tieman, Gus Ganakas, Matt Steigenga) | Sirius 84/XM 84 |
| Game Notes | Michigan State | Purdue |
| Statistics | Michigan State | Purdue |
| Social Media | @MSU_Basketball  | Facebook  | Instagram |
The Opening Tip
Michigan State faces Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. The Spartans are appearing in their third straight championship game and their fourth in the last five seasons. Michigan State has won four Big Ten Tournament titles and is looking to become the first school to officially capture five tournament championships.
MSU Basketball Notes
* MSU has an all-time record of 26-14 in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans are 15-7 when the tournament is held in Indianapolis.
* MSU is 4-1 in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, capturing the title in 1999, 2000, 2012 and 2014. Michigan State is looking to become the first school to officially capture five championships. Ohio State won the title in 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013, but later had to vacate its 2002 crown.
* In two Big Ten Tournament games, Denzel Valentine is averaging 18.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists.
* Michigan State is 92-35 (.724) in March since the 1998-99 season. For his career, Tom Izzo is 99-42 (.702) in March. Over the last seven-plus years (2009-present), MSU is 46-15 (.754) in what Coach Izzo calls his favorite month of the year.
* Purdue leads the all-time series with Michigan State, 66-52. MSU has won 23 of the last 34 games in the series, including seven of the last eight. Tom Izzo is 23-14 in his career against Purdue.
* Michigan State is 3-0 against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament. In 2003, No. 5 MSU defeated No. 4 Purdue, 54-42, in the quarterfinals, as the Spartan defense held the Boilermakers to just 26.0 percent shooting. In the first round in 2006, Maurice Ager scored 20 points to lead No. 6 MSU to a 70-58 win over No. 11 Purdue. Most recently, Kalin Lucas scored a Michigan State Big Ten Tournament-record 30 points as the No. 7 Spartans upset No. 2 Purdue, 74-56, in the 2011 quarterfinals.
* Purdue defeated Michigan State, 82-81, in overtime on Feb. 9, in West Lafayette. Purdue got off to a great start using an early 10-0 run to take a 25-10 lead less than 11 minutes into the contest. Rapheal Davis scored 19 first-half points, including shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from 3-point range and the Boilermakers led 46-30 at the break. Purdue scored the first basket of the second half to go up 18. A 14-2 Spartan run quickly pulled MSU within single digits. The Spartans kept chipping away and took their first lead of the game at 61-60. MSU led by four points with less than two minutes left, but Purdue scored four straight points to send the game into overtime. In the extra stanza, MSU trailed by four with 1:12 left. Denzel Valentine then found Kenny Goins for a layup, and after a defensive stand Valentine tied the game with a driving layup. On Purdue's final possession, Valentine was whistled for a controversial foul and Davis hit one-of-two free throws to win the game. Valentine nearly posted a triple-double, finishing with 27 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Davis led Purdue with 24 points, while A.J. Hammons finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks. In a battle of the nation's two best rebounding teams, Purdue held a 42-39 edge on the glass.
* The Spartans have won 12 of their last 13 games, averaging 82.7 points and shooting .490 from the field, including .484 from 3-point range, while posting a +18.9 scoring margin. Denzel Valentine is averaging 21.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8.8 assists, while Bryn Forbes is averaging 17.0 points and shooting .535 from 3-point range.
* According to ESPN Research, Valentine is on pace to become the first player to average 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists since the NCAA first started keeping assists as an official stat in 1983-84. Even at the NBA level where games are 48 minutes instead of 40, there have been just 10 players in league history to post those numbers in a season (Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, John Havlicek, Grant Hill, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Fat Lever, Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook).
* Denzel Valentine has been named National Player of the Year by USA TODAY Sports and NBCSports.com, becoming just the fourth Spartan to earn a National Player of the Year honor, joining Scott Skiles (1986-Basketball Times), Shawn Respert (1995-Sporting News & NABC) and Draymond Green (2012-NABC).
* Michigan State has proven to be a strong defensive team in 2015-16. The Spartans rank in the Top 25 nationally in scoring defense (19th, 63.4), field-goal percentage defense (2nd, .377), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (11th, .304) and blocked shots (23rd, 5.2 bpg). Just 14 teams have shot better than 40 percent from the field and just 13 have bettered 35 percent behind the 3-point arc. (NCAA Rankings through games of March 11)
* Michigan State has made 302 3-pointers this season, averaging 9.2 per contest. The 302 3-pointers rank as the second-highest single-season total in school history, trailing only 2013-14 (307).
* Michigan State is the only Big Ten team to be led in scoring by three seniors as Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes and Matt Costello average a combined 44.6 points. Valentine and Costello are looking to make history by becoming the winningest senior class in Michigan State history, currently owning 111 victories over the last four years. The 2001 senior class ranks first with 115 wins, while the 2002 class and last year's 2015 class rank second with 112 victories. This year's class is the fourth-winningest class.
* Senior Bryn Forbes leads the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage, shooting .493 (107-of-217). For his career, he's made 319-of-729 attempts from behind the arc, good for a .438 shooting percentage. He's made a 3-pointer in 121 of 136 career games, including in 29 of 33 contests this season. Forbes has made three or more 3-pointers in 20 games and ranks second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally in 3-point field goals made (3.2). His 107 made 3-pointers this year rank as the third-best single-season total in MSU history, seven behind Drew Neitzel (114, 2006-07) and 12 behind Shawn Respert (119, 1994-95).
* MSU ranks second in the nation in scoring margin at +16.8. Of MSU's 28 wins, only seven have been by single digits, including just two of 13 Big Ten victories. The Spartans have won 14 games by 20 or more points, including eight games by 30 points or more. In conference play, MSU won eight games by 19 points or more, including four by more than 30 points.
* Bryn Forbes has scored 18 or more points in a half in five different games, including 23 at Michigan (1st half), 20 at Ohio State (2nd half), 20 at Penn State (1st half), 18 vs. Rutgers (1st half) and 18 at Rutgers (2nd half).
* Michigan State averages 80.2 points per game, which currently stands as the highest average in Tom Izzo's 21 seasons. It's the highest scoring team at MSU since the 1985-86 Spartans averaged 83.1 points in Scott Skiles' senior season.
* Michigan State leads the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage at .435, while ranking 11th in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage defense at .304. The .131 difference between shooting and defending the three leads the nation, and is the third-largest in the last five years, ranking behind 2011-12 Niagara (.136) and 2012-13 Weber St. (.134).
* Matt Costello is tied with Adreian Payne for second in MSU history with 141 blocks. Branden Dawson is the MSU career leader with 142 blocks.
* Of the 21 official statistical categories for Big Ten Conference games, MSU ranked in the top three in 17 of them, including pacing the conference in 12 different categories (scoring offense, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, field-goal percentage defense, 3-point field-goal percentage, rebounding offense, rebounding margin, assists, assist-to-turnover ratio, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage).
* MSU owns an impressive +11.7 rebounding margin, ranking first in the nation, as the Spartans have out-rebounded 30 of 33 opponents this season. In the Tom Izzo era, MSU has out-rebounded 562 of 727 opponents (.773), posting a 447-115 (.795) mark in those games.
* Michigan State currently ranks first in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage, shooting .435 from behind the arc. In conference games, the Spartans shot a Big Ten-best .466 (the highest percentage since Illinois shot .470 in 1992). Over the last 15 contests, MSU is shooting .488 (166-340). Individually, the Spartans are led by Bryn Forbes at .493, ranking first in the nation, The Spartans rank third in the Big Ten in 3-point field goals made (302, 9.2 pg) overall, and second in conference games (177, 9.8 pg).
* Freshman Deyonta Davis ranks third in the Big Ten in blocks (1.9 bpg), fourth in field-goal percentage (.594) and has scored in double figures in 11 games. He's started 14 of the last 15 games, averaging 6.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in 20.3 minutes.
* Senior Matt Costello has raised his game in the last 21 contests, beginning with the four games in which Denzel Valentine was out of action with an injury, averaging 12.1 points and 9.6 rebounds. Costello is just the second Spartan under Tom Izzo to average a double-double in conference play, as Draymond Green averaged 16.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in 2011-12.
* Michigan State is averaging a nation's-best 20.7 assists, recording an assist on 684-of-954 field goals, good for a nation's-best 71.7 percent. The 684 assists have already established a Michigan State single-season record. In 14 games, MSU has recorded more assists than the opponent has totaled field goals.
* Deyonta Davis is proving to be one of the best shot blockers in MSU history, totaling 63 blocks this season. Davis already has established the single-season record for a Spartan freshman, and ranks second in MSU history, needing nine more to match the MSU single-season record of 72, established by Ken Johnson in 1984-85.
* Michigan State is 12-1 this season when committing the same number or fewer turnovers than its opponent, with the lone loss coming in overtime vs. Purdue. The Spartans have had single-digit turnovers in 12 games.
* Junior Eron Harris has started 20 games this season, scoring in double figures in 11 of the 20. In his 20 starts, he's averaging 11.0 points, shooting .457 from the field, .492 from 3-point range, and .824 from the foul line.
* Michigan State is a perfect 25-0 when leading at the half. The Spartans have also overcome halftime deficits vs. Kansas (35-41), Louisville (29-32) and Oakland (37-50).
* MSU leads the Big Ten with 12.3 offensive rebounds per game, while ranking second in offensive rebound percentage, grabbing 37.3 percent of its missed shots. The Spartans are averaging 12.2 second-chance points per contest, outscoring opponents by a +3.7 margin.
* Denzel Valentine leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth in the nation, averaging 7.6 assists per contest. With 618 assists for his career, he ranks third in MSU history. He needs 28 assists to pass Scott Skiles (645) for second place. In games in which he has played, Valentine has either made or assisted on 49.3 percent of MSU's field goals, including 50.4 percent in games which he has started. Since returning to action, the percentage increases to 51.6 percent. He also boasts a career-best 2.9 assist-to-turnover ratio.
BIG TEN SEMIFINALS NOTES
* For the second-straight year, Michigan State defeated Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
* Michigan State recorded its third-straight victory against Maryland.
* Denzel Valentine dished out 10 assists, matching the second-best effort by a Spartan in Big Ten Tournament history.
* Michigan State shot a season-best .933 (14-15) from the foul line, marking the second-best Spartan effort in the Big Ten Tournament, and the best percentage with 10 or more attempts.
* All 10 Spartans that appeared in the contest made at least one field goal.
* Michigan State's three-point margin was its slimmest victory margin of the season, and its slimmest since a 74-72 victory at Indiana in the 2015 regular-season finale (3/7/15).
* Michigan State's defense held Maryland to .333 FG%, matching a season-low for the Terrapins.
* Michigan State shot just .286 (6-21) in the second half, marking its lowest shooting half of the season.
