No. 4 Michigan State Hosts Oakland on Sunday

East Lansing, Mich. – The No. 4-ranked Michigan State men's basketball returns back to the Breslin Center for its final scheduled non-conference game of the regular season, hosting Oakland University on Sunday, Dec. 13 (noon).

The game will air live on FS1, with Lisa Byington and Nick Bahe calling all of the action. The TCF Bank Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard on one of 38 affiliates and on the web at MSUSpartans.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 119, XM 195 and Internet 957.

Records
Michigan State enters the game with a 5-0 record following a 79-61 win over Western Michigan last Sunday. The Spartans are playing for the first time in a week after Wednesday's ACC/Big Ten Challenge game at Virginia was postponed due to COVID-19 issues in UVa's program. Oakland enter the game with an 0-6 record.

Last Meeting with Oakland

Aaron Henry scored 10 points and Michigan State had 12 players scored at least two points as the then-16th-ranked Spartans cruised past Oakland, 72-49, at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 14.
Henry scored eight of his 10 points in the second half while adding six assists and two rebounds.
Xavier Tillman Sr. had nine points and 13 rebounds, Cassius Winston added nine points and four assists, sophomore forward Gabe Brown finished with nine points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Thomas Kithier chipped in with eight points and six rebounds.

Series History

Michigan State and Oakland meet for the 19th time in program history.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 18-0.
Michigan State is 12-0 against Oakland at home.
Three games in the last eight in the series have been decided by less than 10 points, including one game that went to overtime (Dec. 22, 2015, 99-93 MSU win).
The teams first played on Nov. 17, 1998 at Oakland, a 98-66 MSU win.

About the Spartans

The Spartans feature a balanced attack early in the season, with three players scoring in double figures, eight players averaging at least 5.0 points and nine players averaging at least 10 minutes per game.
Redshirt junior forward Joey Hauser leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 14.0 points and 10.0 rebounds ... He has three double-doubles this year, including a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds against Western Michigan on Sunday.
Sophomore guard Rocket Watts has scored in double figures in each of the last four games, including back-to-back games with 20+ points against Duke and Detroit Mercy ... He is second on the team with 13.6 points per game, while adding 3.6 assists.
Junior forward Aaron Henry is averaging 11.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.8 steals per game.
Junior forward Gabe Brown is averaging 8.3 points, graduate guard Joshua Langford adds 6.8 points and 1.8 rebounds and junior guard Foster Loyer is averaging 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds.
Sophomore forward Malik Hall, who had his first career double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) at Duke, is averaging 5.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists and sophomore forward Julius Marble is averaging 5.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 7.4 minutes.

About Oakland

Oakland continues the 2020-21 season with its season-opening road swing with a seventh game away from home.
The Grizzlies played three games at Xavier in Cincinnati, then played straight road games at Purdue, Michigan and Oklahoma State.
Oakland enters the game with an 0-6 record, but took Michigan to overtime before losing 81-71 and trailed Oklahoma State by one at the half before the Cowboys pulled away for an 84-71 win.
In the loss at Oklahoma State, junior guard Rashad Williams scored a game-high 32 points, hitting 10 3-pointers in the process, and was named the Horizon League Player of the Week.
Williams, a preseason second team All-Horizon selection, averaged 19.5 points and 3.1 rebounds last year.