No. 2 Seed Michigan State Faces No. 15 Seed Bradley on Thursday

Des Moines, Iowa – Michigan State's men's basketball team, the No. 2 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament, practiced locally on Wednesday and went through media obligations in advance of its 2019 NCAA Tournament first round matchup with No. 15 seed Bradley on Thursday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.

Records
Michigan State, coming off a 65-60 win over Michigan to win the Big Ten Tournament, has won five-straight games and 10 of its last 11 and enters the game with a 28-6 overall record. Bradley, winners of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, enter with a 20-14 overall record.

Last Time Out
Top-seeded Michigan State mounted a furious comeback in the second half and junior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) hit a go-ahead layup to give the Spartans the lead and redshirt senior Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) hit free throws to seal a 65-60 win in the Big Ten Championship game at the United Center on Sunday … Michigan State claimed its league-best sixth Big Ten Tournament Championship … Senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville) scored a career-high 27 points, connecting on a career-best seven 3-pointers to lead MSU, while Winston had 14 points (11 in the second half) and 11 assists.

About the Spartans

Through 34 games, Winston leads the team with 18.9 points per game and 7.6 assists per game ... Winston is fourth in the Big Ten in scoring and is No. 3 in the country in assists per game ... In Big Ten games, Winston averaged 19.6 points and 7.9 assists.
Junior forward Nick Ward (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln), who missed five games with a hairline fracture in his left hand, is averaging 14.0 points and 6.2 rebounds.
McQuaid is averaging 9.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists, has scored in double figures 16 times this year and is second in the Big Ten in 3-point field goal percentage.
Sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) is scoring 9.4 points per game, is second on the team with 7.1 rebounds and is third in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (60.4 percent) ... In six starts since Ward's injury, Tillman is averaging 12.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.
Goins is sixth on the team in scoring with 8.3 points and leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 39 nationally.
Freshman Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) is averaging 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds (6.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg in 17 starts).
MSU ranks among the top-10 in the country in nine different statistical categories ... The Spartans rank No. 43 in the country in scoring offense (78.8 ppg), No. 15 in field goal percentage (48.6%), No. 38 in scoring defense (65.5 ppg) and No. 3 in field goal percentage defense (37.8%).

MSU in the NCAA Tournament

Michigan State is making its 33rd appearance in the NCAA Tournament with a record of 65-31 (.677) in its previous 32 tournaments.
MSU has made nine trips to the Final Four (1957, 1979, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015) and captured the NCAA Championship in 1979 and 2000.
MSU's .677 winning percentage is the eighth-best all-time in NCAA Tournament play, while the program's 65 total victories rank seventh all-time.

Izzo's NCAA Streak

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is making his 22nd-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
It's the second-longest active streak in the nation, trailing only Mike Krzyzewski, who is making his 24th straight trip this season.
The 22-year streak is the longest in Big Ten history by a head coach and the third longest in NCAA history ... Only Dean Smith (North Carolina, 23-1975-97) and Krzyzewski (24) have longer streaks
Izzo's 22 tournament appearances rank 12th-most all-time.

MSU in Opening Games

In its 32 NCAA Tournaments, Michigan State has a record of 25-7 in its first game of the tournament … Since the field expanded in 1985, the Spartans are 21-7 in the round of 64 … Tom Izzo is 16-5 in the round of 64.

The Series

Thursday's game will mark the fifth meeting between Michigan State and Bradley.
MSU leads the all-time series, 4-0, and Coach Izzo is 3-0 against the Braves.
The Spartans defeated the Braves in the Breslin Center in 2006 and 2008 and won in Peoria in 2007.

About Bradley

Bradley (20-14) is making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance overall and first since making the Sweet 16 in 2006.
The Braves won their first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship in 31 years with a 57-54 victory over Northern Iowa on March 10 in St. Louis.
BU was down by as many as 18 points to UNI in the second half, 35-17, with 17 minutes remaining in the game, but stormed back to earn its third MVC Tournament crown in school history (1980, 1988).
It marked the largest comeback in MVC Championship game history.
Bradley also beat fourth-seeded Missouri State in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Loyola in the semifinals of the MVC Tournament.
After starting conference play with five straight losses, BU finished tied for fifth in the MVC regular-season standings with a 9-9 league mark.
The Braves enter the NCAA Tournament winners of nine of their last 11 games.

No. 2 Seed Michigan State Faces No. 15 Seed Bradley on Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston

No. 2 Seed Michigan State Faces No. 15 Seed Bradley on Thursday

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kenny Goins

Aaron Henry

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston

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