No. 10 Michigan State Plays at Florida on Saturday

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team hits the road this weekend for the sixth game of a challenging stretch over the last three weeks, playing at Florida on Saturday, Dec. 8. Tipoff is slated for noon.

On the Air
The game will air live on CBS, with Carter Blackburn calling the play-by-play and Clark Kellogg 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 195, XM 205 and Internet 957.

Records
Michigan State, winners of seven of the last eight games, enters the game on Saturday with a 7-2 overall record, while Florida is 5-3.

Last Time Out
Redshirt senior Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) scored a career-high 19 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and handed out seven assists and junior forward Nick Ward (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) had a career-high 26 points as No. 10 Michigan State used a big second half en route to a 90-68 win over then-No. 18 Iowa on Monday night. The Spartans had four players in double figure scoring, with Goins and Ward leading the way. Sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) finished with a career-high 14 points, eight rebounds and a career-best four blocks, while junior forward Joshua Langford (Huntsville, Ala./Madison Academy) added 14 points and five assists. Sophomore guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) finished with eight points and 12 assists.

About the Spartans

The Spartans have a pair of wins over ranked teams this season, including a win over then-No. 17 UCLA (87-67) at the Las Vegas Invitational.
Through nine games, Langford leads the team in scoring with 17.1 points per game, while adding 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
Winston is second on the team with 16.8 points per game and leads the team in assists with 7.7 per game ... Winston is fifth in the country in assists per game.
Ward is third on the team with 15.9 points and third on the team with 6.0 rebounds.
MSU has five players scoring at least 5.0 points per game ... Senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville) is averaging 7.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
Tillman is fourth on the team in scoring with 7.8 points and second with 7.7 rebounds and Goins is sixth on the team in scoring with 7.0 points and leads the team with 10.4 rebounds per game.
Redshirt junior Kyle Ahrens (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles), who has started the last three games in place of an injured McQuaid, is averaging 5.8 points and 2.6 rebounds ... Freshman forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) is averaging 5.1 points and 3.2 rebounds.

The Series

Michigan State and Florida meet for the eighth time in series history on Saturday, Dec. 8.
This is just the second meeting in Gainesville.
MSU leads the head-to-head series, 4-3, and has won two of the last three meetings.
The teams last met at Florida on Dec. 5, 2001, a 74-70 Gators win.

About Florida

Florida enters Saturday's game with a 5-3 record following a 66-56 win over West Virginia in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night.
The Gators have won two-straight games and three of the last four, including a 72-49 win over Stanford.
UF ranks second in the Southeastern Conference in scoring defense, allowing just 61.6 points per game, steals (9.5 per game) and turnover margin (+5.1).
Since allowing 81 points to Florida State in the season opener, the Gators have not allowed more than 70 points, including twice holding opponents to under 50 points.
Senior guard KeVaughn Allen leads the team in scoring with 10.0 points per game, while freshman guard Noah Locke is averaging 8.3 points and 2.0 3-point field goals per game.
Senior center Kevarrius Hayes is averaging 7.4 points and leads the team with 6.0 rebounds, while freshman guard Andrew Nembhard is averaging 7.3 points and a team-best 6.5 assists.

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Joshua Langford

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston