Wednesday, December 9
Charlottesville, VA
9:15 PM
Michigan State University
at
Virginia
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
No. 4 Michigan State Plays at No. 18 Virginia in ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday Night
12/8/2020 3:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
East Lansing, Mich. – The No. 4-ranked Michigan State men's basketball team plays at No. 18 Virginia in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 9 (9:20 p.m.).
The game features a matchup between MSU redshirt junior forward Joey Hauser and his older brother, Virginia graduate forward Sam Hauser. The game on Wednesday is the also the last of four games in a nine-day span, including a 75-69 win over then-No. 6 Duke.
The game will air live on ESPN, with Bob Wischusen and Dick Vitale 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, XM and Internet 84.
Records
Michigan State, winners of its first five games, enters the game with a 5-0 record, while Virginia has won its last two games and is 3-1 overall.
About the Spartans
The game features a matchup between MSU redshirt junior forward Joey Hauser and his older brother, Virginia graduate forward Sam Hauser. The game on Wednesday is the also the last of four games in a nine-day span, including a 75-69 win over then-No. 6 Duke.
The game will air live on ESPN, with Bob Wischusen and Dick Vitale 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, XM and Internet 84.
Records
Michigan State, winners of its first five games, enters the game with a 5-0 record, while Virginia has won its last two games and is 3-1 overall.
About the Spartans
- Michigan State enters the game on Wednesday night with a 5-0 record, the first time since 2015-16 the Spartans have won their first five games of the season ... In 2015-16, MSU won the first 13 games of the season.
- 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.
- Virginia enters the game on Wednesday night ranked No. 18 in the country by the Associated Press and in the USA Today Coaches poll.
- The Cavaliers have won their last two games, beating St. Francis (Pa.), 76-51, and Kent State, 71-64, in overtime ... Their lone loss came to San Francisco (61-60).
- Redshirt senior Sam Hauser leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 14.5 points and 6.8 rebounds.
- He is one of three players scoring in double figures, joined by redshirt senior forward Jay Huff, who is scoring 12.3 points, with 6.8 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
- Junior guard Trey Murphy III is averaging 10.8 points and 3.0 rebounds.
- The Cavaliers are allowing opponents just 57.5 points per game.
- Michigan State is 8-12 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and had its 2001 game against Virginia in Richmond cancelled due to unplayable wet floor conditions.
- After dropping the first 10 challenges, the Big Ten has captured six of the last 11, with three ties (2012, 2013, 2016).
- The Spartans have split their last four Big Ten/ACC Challenge games, with wins over Notre Dame (2017) and Louisville (2015).
- MSU has lost its last two games in the Challenge, losing at Louisville in 2018 and at home to Duke last year.
- In the 20 years of the event, 10 of the challenges have been decided by a single game.
- Michigan State and Virginia meet for just the sixth time in program history ... The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 5-0.
- This is MSU's first trip to Charlottesville and to John Paul Jones Arena.
- The teams played in 2001 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, but the game was canceled with 15:04 to play in the second half due to unplayable conditions at the Richmond Coliseum in Virginia.
- The Spartans beat UVa, 60-54, in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament en route to the Final Four.
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