No. 13 Michigan State Visits Rutgers on Saturday Afternoon

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State plays the final game of a stretch where the Spartans were on the road for four of five games on Saturday, Feb. 5, visiting Rutgers (4 p.m., FS1). The Spartans, winners of 3 of their last five games, are coming off a 65-63 win at Maryland on Tuesday.

The game will air live on FS1, with Dave Sims and Donny Marshall 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 113, XM 199 and channel 958 on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters the game on Saturday with a 17-4 overall record (8-2 Big Ten).
The Spartans are ranked #13 in the AP poll and No. 13 in the ESPN Coaches poll.
MSU is #19 in the NET Rankings (#22 in Strength of Schedule) and #21 in the Basketball Power Index.
MSU is No.17 in the country by kenpom.com, including No. 26 in adjusted defensive efficiency.
MSU is 5-1 in true road games this year, including 4-1 in Big Ten games.
The Spartans have been led this year by a stingy defense, which ranks among the leaders in the Big Ten in scoring defense (No. 3, 65.5 ppg), field goal percentage defense (No. 2, 39.5%), 3-point field goal percentage defense (No. 1, 29.2%), rebounding margin (No. 3, +7.33 rpg) and blocked shots (No. 1, 6.14 bpg).
Senior forward Gabe Brown is one of three players scoring in double figures and one of nine players averaging at least 4.0 points per game.
Brown leads the team with 12.8 ppg, while adding 4.4 rebounds and leads the team in 3-pointers made with 43.
Freshman guard Max Christie is second on the team with 10.2 points and has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week five times.
Junior forward Malik Hall is third on the team in scoring with 10.2 ppg, while adding 5.1 rpg and 1.2 apg ... He is averaging 10.9 ppg and 5.9 rpg in Big Ten games.
Senior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. is averaging 9.6 ppg and leads the team with 6.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots per game.
Redshirt senior forward Joey Hauser adds 7.4 ppg and is second on the team with 6.1 rpg, while junior forward Julius Marble is averaging 6.2 ppg and 2.8 rpg.
Junior guard Tyson Walker is averaging 7.1 ppg and is tied for the team lead with 4.8 assists and sophomore teammate A.J. Hoggard is averaging 6.3 ppg, 4.8 apg and 2.0 rpg.

Road Warriors

Michigan State won its fourth true road game with an 86-74 win at No. 8 Wisconsin.
The win also marked Tom Izzo's seventh career double-digit road win over an AP Top-10 team, third-most by any head coach all-time per ESPN Stats&Info … He only trails Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith.
The Spartans are 5-1 on the road this year, including a 4-1 mark against Big Ten teams.
Adding in neutral site games, MSU is 8-3 away from East Lansing this year, with two of the losses coming to No. 10 Kansas (Champions Classic) and to No. 8 Baylor (Battle 4 Atlantis Championship game).

About Rutgers

Rutgers enters the game on Saturday with a 12-9 overall record and a 6-5 mark in the Big Ten following a 79-78 overtime loss at Northwestern on Tuesday.
The Scarlet Knights are 10-2 at home, including a 4-1 mark against B1G opponents at the RAC, including a win over then-No. 1 Purdue.
Rutgers has lost three of its last four games, three of those games on the road (at Minnesota, at Maryland and Northwestern) and all by less than nine points.
In Big Ten games, Rutgers is fourth in the league in scoring defense (66.6 ppg) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (42.1%).

Series against Michigan

Michigan State and Rutgers meet for only the 13th time in program history.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 11-1, and have won 10 of 11 meetings since Rutgers joined the Big Ten.
The teams split a pair of games last year, with RU winning its first game ever against MSU on Jan. 28.
The teams first played on Dec. 19, 1970, with MSU posting an 81-71 win to capture the team championship at the Lobo Invitational in New Mexico.

No. 13 Michigan State Visits Rutgers on Saturday Afternoon

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

No. 13 Michigan State Visits Rutgers on Saturday Afternoon

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Tyson Walker

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