No. 12 Michigan State Plays at Minnesota on Monday Night

East Lansing, Mich. – The No.12-ranked Michigan State men's basketball hits the road for its second Big Ten road game of the season, playing at Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 28 (8 p.m.)

The Spartans open conference play on the road for three of the first four games, playing next at Nebraska (Jan. 2). MSU is coming off an 85-76 loss to No. 9 Wisconsin on Christmas Day. The Minnesota game is the second of five in 14 days for the Spartans.

The game will air live on BTN, with Brandon Gaudin and Robbie Hummel 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 133, XM 196 and Internet 958.

Records
Michigan State enters the game with a 6-2 overall record and an 0-2 mark in the Big Ten. Minnesota enters with an 8-1 overall mark and a 1-1 record in the Big Ten.

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 4.8 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 8.6 rebounds ... Hauser scored a career-high 27 points against Wisconsin on Dec. 25, has four double-doubles this year, seven games in double figure scoring, two games with at least 20 points, four games with at least 10 boards, including a career-high 16 against Notre Dame.
Junior forward Aaron Henry is averaging 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.8 steals per game.
Sophomore guard Rocket Watts has scored in double figures four times this season, including back-to-back games with 20+ points against Duke and Detroit Mercy … He is third on the team with 10.9 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 4.6 assists.
Junior forward Gabe Brown is averaging 9.5 points and 1.9 rebounds, graduate guard Joshua Langford adds 8.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.6 rebounds.
Sophomore forward Malik Hall, who had his first career double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) at Duke, is averaging 6.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists, junior guard Foster Loyer is averaging 6.5 points and 2.8 assists and sophomore forward Julius Marble is averaging 4.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 7.9 minutes.

Series History

Monday's game will be the 134th meeting all-time between Michigan State and Minnesota.
Michigan State leads the all-time series with Minnesota, 73-60.
The Spartans won both games last year, 74-58, at the Breslin Center, and then 70-52 at Williams Arena.
MSU is 27-36 all-time in Minneapolis.
Michigan State has won the last five games between the teams and eight of the last nine overall.
MSU has won the last four games played at Minnesota.
Minnesota's last win at home was a 76-63 decision on Dec. 31, 2012.

About Minnesota

Minnesota enters Monday night's game with an 8-1 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the Big Ten following a 102-95 overtime win on Christmas night against No. 4 Iowa.
The Gophers lost their conference opener, 92-65, at Illinois on Dec. 15.
Junior guard Marcus Carr scored 30 points in the Iowa win, his second-straight game with at least 30 and he is second in the Big Ten in scoring.
Redshirt senior Brandon Johnson scored 26 points in the game, connecting on 8-of-9 shots from 3-point land.
The Gophers are fourth in the Big Ten in scoring offense (84.7 ppg) and 14th in the league in scoring defense (75.9 ppg).

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Players Mentioned

Gabe Brown

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

Aaron Henry

Joshua Langford

Foster Loyer

Rocket Watts