No. 11 Michigan State Hosts Tennessee Tech on Sunday

Photo by: Matthew Mitchell

11/17/2018 5:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team plays the final game of a three-game homestand on Sunday, Nov. 18, hosting Tennessee Tech at the Breslin Center. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.

The game will air live on BTN, with Brandon Gaudin calling the play-by-play and Stephen Bardo serving as the color analyst. The Spartan Sports Network radio call can be heard on one of 38 affiliates and on the web at SpartanSportsNetwork.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play and Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst. The game can also be heard on Sirius 134 and XM 196.

The matchup with Tennessee Tech is part of the Las Vegas Invitational. The Spartans will play UCLA at Orleans Arena on Thursday, Nov. 22 (10 p.m. ET, FS1). The winner of that game will play the winner of a matchup between Texas and No. 7 North Carolina.

The Spartans, ranked No. 11 in the latest Associated Press poll, improved to 2-1 this season with an 80-59 win over the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) on Wednesday night.
Last Time Out

In the win over ULM, junior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored 18 of his team-high 23 points in the second half as MSU pulled away ULM.
Michigan State led by only six points, 35-29, at the break and ULM cut the lead to 35-31, but it was the Cassius Winston Show after that. Winston converted a conventional three-point play to give MSU a 38-31 lead and triggered an 18-4 run as he scored 14 points during that span.
Junior guard Joshua Langford (Huntsville, Ala./Madison Academy) added 16 points, sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Catholic) registered his first career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and redshirt senior Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) had six points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

About the Spartans

Through three games, Langford leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.3 points per game, while adding 5.3 rebounds and connecting on 46.3 percent of his field goals.
Langford is one of three players scoring in double figures for MSU. Winston is second on the team with 16.7 points per game, leads the team with 7.3 assists and is adding 3.7 rebounds.
Junior forward Nick Ward (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) is third on the team with 12.7 points and third with 6.0 rebounds.
Michigan State has eight players who are averaging at least five points per game, with Goins averaging 9.7 points, leading the team with 10.3 rebounds and adding 3.7 assists,
Tillman averaging 8.3 points and 7.0 rebounds, senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville) adding 8.0 points and 3.3 assists, freshman forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) averaging 7.0 points and 2.7 rebounds and redshirt junior Kyle Ahrens (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) contributing 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds.

Against Tennessee Tech

This will be the fourth all-time meeting between Michigan State and Tennessee Tech.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 3-0; all three wins have come at the Breslin Center.
In the last meeting between the teams, on Dec. 10, 2016, then-senior guard Eron Harris scored 20 points – hitting 5-of-11 3-pointers - to help lead the Spartans to a 71-63 win over the Golden Eagles.
MSU's average margin of victory in three meetings against the Golden Eagles is 14.3 points.

About Tennessee Tech

Tennessee Tech enters tonight's game with a 0-4 record following a 108-58 loss at North Carolina on Friday night.
The Golden Eagles have opened the season with losses at Memphis (76-61), at home to Presbyterian (80-65) and at Savannah State (97-83).
Tennessee Tech has three players scoring in double figures, led by junior center Micaiah Henry, who is averaging 16.5 points per game ... He is also grabbing 6.8 rebounds and has blocked nine shots in four games.
Redshirt freshman guard Hunter Vick is second on the team with 11.3 points and senior forward Courtney Alexander II is third on the team with 10.5 points and leads the team with 9.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game.
Freshman guard Jr. Clay is averaging 9.3 points off the bench, while junior guard Corey Tillery (6.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg) and graduate student guard Johnnie Vassar (5.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg) – a transfer from Northwestern – round out the starting lineup.
The Golden Eagles are shooting 40.0 percent from the floor, including 25.8 percent from 3-point land.
The team is averaging 66.8 points per game, while allowing 90.2 points per game.