No. 8 Michigan State Hosts Minnesota on Thursday Night

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team wraps up a five-game homestand on Thursday, Jan. 9, hosting Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference game at the Breslin Center. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m.

The game will air live on ESPN2, with Jason Benetti, Dan Dakich and Molly McGrath calling all of the action. 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, XM and Internet 83.
Records

Michigan State, winners of seven-straight and nine of the last 10 games overall, enters Thursday's game with a 12-3 overall record and a 4-0 mark in the Big Ten. Minnesota is 8-6 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Last Time Out
Senior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored a career-high 32 points and handed out nine assists and No. 14 Michigan State led from start to finish in an 87-69 win over No. 12 Michigan at the Breslin Center on Sunday afternoon ... Junior forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Catholic Central) added 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high six blocked shots, while six other Spartans scored at least six points, including sophomore forward Aaron Henry (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), who had six points, eight rebounds and two blocks and sophomore forward Gabe Brown (Ypsilanti, Mich./Belleville) added six points and six rebounds.

About the Spartans

Winston leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game … Winston is also fourth in the league in assists, averaging 6.3 per game, and first in free throw percentage, connecting on 84.6 percent of his shots (55-of-65).
Tillman is second on the team with 13.9 points per game (13th in the Big Ten) and tops the team, and is fourth in the Big Ten, with 9.8 rebounds per game, while adding 2.9 assists per game.
Henry, who scored a season-high 18 points against Virginia Tech and matched a career-best with six assists against Eastern Michigan, is third on the team with 10.2 points per game, while adding 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
MSU has four other players averaging at least 5.0 points per game, led by Brown, who is averaging 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds.
Freshman guard Rocket Watts (Detroit, Mich./SPIRE Academy [Ohio]) adds 6.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
Sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian), who has started the last 10 games and collected career high's in rebounds (12) and blocks (5) against Illinois on Jan. 2, is averaging 5.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
Freshman forward Malik Hall (Aurora, Ill./Sunrise Christian Academy [Kan.[), who had nine points and eight rebounds against Duke, is averaging 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds.

Series History

Thursday's game will be the 132nd meeting all-time between Michigan State and Minnesota.
Michigan State leads the all-time series with Minnesota, 71-60 ...The Spartans are 43-20 at home and are 32-8 in their last 40 games against the Golden Gophers.
Michigan State is 16-1 in its last 17 games at home against Minnesota.

About Minnesota

Minnesota enters Thursday night's game with an 8-6 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the Big Ten Conference following a 77-68 win over Northwestern at home on Sunday night.
The Golden Gophers have won four of their last five games, including an 84-71 win over then-No. 3 Ohio State, and seven of their last 10 games overall.
Sophomore center Daniel Oturu leads the team, and is second in the Big Ten, in scoring with 19.1 points and leads the league with 12.4 rebounds per game.
He is one of four players scoring in double figures for Minnesota, along with redshirt sophomore guard Marcus Carr, a Pittsburgh transfer, who is scoring 15.9 points per game and is second in the Big Ten with 6.9 assists per game ... Carr leads the Big Ten and ranks 15th in the country in minutes played per game (36.5).
Sophomore guard Gabe Kalscheur is third on the team with 13.4 points per game and leads the team in 3-pointers with 40 ... His 2.9 3-pointers made per game leads the Big Ten.
Redshirt junior guard Payton Willis, a Vanderbilt transfer, is fourth on the team with 10.6 points per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Malik Hall

Aaron Henry

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston