Spartans Face Oakland on Tuesday Night at Little Caesars Arena

East Lasing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team returns back to action on Tuesday, Dec. 21, playing Oakland at Little Caesars Arena. After 11 games in 33 days (in New York City, Indianapolis, the Bahamas, Minneapolis and Michigan), MSU will be playing its first game in 10 days.

The game will air live on ESPN+, with Neal Ruhl and Rex Walters 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 136, XM 196 and channel 958 on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters the game on Tuesday with a 9-2 overall record, and wins in nine of its last 10 games.
The Spartans are ranked #11 in the Associated Press and ESPN Coaches polls, No. 13 in the NET Rankings and #1 in Strength of Schedule in the country among major conference teams.
MSU is No. 6 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency from KenPom.com, ranking among the nation's leaders in Block% (#12), 2PT% (#47), 3-point % (#22) and effective FG % (#15).
The Spartans have been led this year by a stingy defense, which ranks among the leaders in the Big Ten in scoring defense (No. 5, 63.9 ppg), field goal percentage defense (No. 3, 38.4%), 3-point field goal percentage defense (No. 3, 26.6%), rebounding margin (No. 4, +8.50 rpg) and blocked shots (No. 1, 6.73 bpg).
Senior forward Gabe Brown is one of two players scoring in double figures and one of nine players averaging at least 5.0 points per game, leading the team with 13.3 points.
Senior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. is second on the team with 10.3 points per game and leads the team with 7.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game.
Junior forward Malik Hall is third with 9.6 points, while freshman guard Max Christie is averaging 8.7 points and 3.2 rebounds, junior forward Julius Marble is averaging 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds and redshirt senior forward Joey Hauser adds 6.2 points and is second on the team with 5.8 rebounds.
Junior guard Tyson Walker is averaging 7.0 points and leads the team with 5.1 assists, while sophomore teammate A.J. Hoggard is averaging 6.3 points, 4.1 assists and 2.0 rebounds.

About Oakland

Oakland enters the game on Tuesday night with a 7-3 overall record, including a 2-0 mark in the Horizon League following wins over Illinois-Chicago and IUPUI to start conference play.
This will be the first game in 14 days for the Grizzlies, who played 10 games in 28 days and last played on Dec. 7, a 73-72 loss at Bowling Green.
Oakland has played six games on the road and three at neutral sites.
The Grizzlies have three players scoring in double figures, led by graduate forward Jamal Cain (Marquette), who is eighth nationally in scoring (21.2 ppg) and 11th nationally in rebounding (10.5 rpg).

Series History

Michigan State and Oakland meet for the 20th time in program history.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 19-0.
Three games in the last nine 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.

Spartans Face Oakland on Tuesday Night at Little Caesars Arena

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

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