Michigan State Heads to South Carolina for NCAA First Round Matchup with Davidson

East Lasing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team makes its 24th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament under Head Coach Tom Izzo, extending the longest streak in Big Ten history, when it plays Davidson on Friday, March 18 (9:40 p.m.) at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.

The Spartans are the No. 7 seed in the West Region and will open against No. 10 Davidson on Friday, March 18 (9:40 p.m.), with Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson 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 Kevin Pauga serving as the color analyst. The game can also be heard on Sirius 85, XM 195 and channel 957 on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters the game on Friday with a 22-12 overall record (11-9 Big Ten).
MSU is #36 in the NET Rankings (#14 in Strength of Schedule), #36 in the Basketball Power Index and #40 by KenPom ... The Spartans have a combined 13 wins against Quad 1 and 2 teams this year.
The Spartans rank eighth in the Big Ten in scoring offense (72.1 ppg) and are sixth in the league in scoring defense (68.4 ppg) ... In Big Ten games only, MSU was fourth in the league in field goal percentage (45.3%) and sixth in field goal percentage defense (43.4%).
MSU senior forward Gabe Brown leads the team in scoring with 11.4 ppg, while adding 3.9 rebounds and leads the team in 3-pointers made with 66.
Freshman guard Max Christie is second on the team with 9.5 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 9.4 ppg, while adding 4.6 rpg and 1.1 apg.
Senior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. is averaging 9.2 ppg and leads the team with 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game ... Bingham had 19 points and 11 rebounds last Friday against Wisconsin, his fourth double-double of the season.
Junior guard Tyson Walker is averaging 8.1 ppg and is second on the team with 4.3 assists ... Walker, who scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half against Illinois on Feb. 19, has scored in double figures in five of the last 11 games and 12 times overall.
Redshirt senior forward Joey Hauser adds 6.7 ppg and is second on the team with 5.2 rpg, while junior forward Julius Marble is averaging 6.5 ppg and 3.5 rpg.
Sophomore guard A.J. Hoggard is averaging 6.8 ppg and leads the team with 4.8 assists ... Hoggard tied his career-high with 17 points against Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals and tied his career-high with 10 assists for his second career double-double.

MSU's NCAA Streak

Michigan State is making its 24th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022 ... It is the longest streak ever among Big Ten schools and second-longest current streak in the nation ... Only Kansas (32) has a longer current streak.
Michigan State's streak of 24 straight NCAA Tournaments is not only a Big Ten record, but it's also tied for the third-longest in NCAA history (Kansas, 32, 1990-2022; North Carolina, 27, 1975-2001; Duke, 24, 1996-2019).

MSU In The NCAA Tournament

Michigan State is making its 35th appearance in the NCAA Tournament with a record of 69-33 (.676) in its previous 34 tournaments.
MSU has made 10 trips to the Final Four (1957, 1979, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019) and captured the NCAA Championship in 1979 and 2000.
MSU's .676 winning percentage is the eighth-best all-time in NCAA Tournament play, while the program's 69 total victories rank sixth all-time.

Izzo's NCAA Streak

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is making his 24th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament ... It's the longest active streak in the nation.
Izzo is now tied with Duke's Mike Krzyzewski for the most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (24) by a head coach ... Krzyzewski led the Blue Devils to 24 straight NCAA Tournaments from 1996-2019.
The 24-year streak is the longest in Big Ten history by a head coach and the third-longest
in NCAA history ... Izzo's 24 tournament appearances rank 12th-most all-time.

MSU In Opening Games

In its 34 NCAA Tournaments, Michigan State has a record of 26-8 in its first game of the tournament.
Since the field expanded in 1985, the Spartans are 22-8 in opening games, including 22-7 in the round of 64 ... Tom Izzo is 17-5 in the round of 64.

About Davidson

The Wildcats won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title with a 15-3 league record and own an overall mark of 27-6 … Davidson lost to Richmond in the A10 Tournament Championship last Sunday, 64-62.
This is Davidson's 15th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2018 … The Wildcats have compiled an 8-15 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament.
As a No. 10 seed in 2008, Davidson advanced to the Midwest Regional Final before falling to eventual National Champion Kansas at Ford Field in Detroit ... Former Wildcat and three-time NBA World Champion and two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry averaged 32.0 points with 23 3-pointers during Davidson's run to the Elite Eight.
Senior forward Luka Brajkovic (6-10, 250), who was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, ranks third on the team in scoring (14.2 ppg) and first in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and blocks (1.1 bpg) ... He also ranks second in the A10 and 19th in the country in field-goal percentage (.576)
Junior Hyunjung Lee (6-7, 210) was also a first-team All-Atlantic 10 honoree ... Lee is second on the team in scoring (16.0) and rebounding (6.0 rpg) and leads the team in 3-point field goals made with 77.
Former Spartan Foster Loyer, who lettered at MSU for three seasons (2018-21) before transferring to Davidson this year, leads the team in scoring with 16.4 points per game and was a second-team all-league selection ... He leads the nation in free-throw shooting (.934) and ranks third nationally in 3-point field-goal percentage (.445).
The Wildcats are an excellent shooting team, leading the Atlantic 10 in both field-goal percentage (.481) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.386), marks which rank 18th and eighth in the nation, respectively.
Davidson ranks third in the A10 and 58th nationally in scoring offense with 75.6 points per game.
Defensively, the Wildcats allow 65.8 points per game, fourth in the A10 and 73rd in the country.
Davidson takes care of the basketball, ranking 11th nationally with just 9.8 turnovers per game and 16th in a 1.49 assist/turnover ratio.
Davidson's 15 wins in Atlantic 10 Conference play set a new school record.
It marked Davidson's second Atlantic 10 regular-season title since joining the league in 2015, when it won the league crown in its inaugural season.

Series History

Friday's game will be the first-ever meeting between Michigan State and Davidson.

Michigan State Heads to South Carolina for NCAA First Round Matchup with Davidson

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Foster Loyer

Tyson Walker

Michigan State Heads to South Carolina for NCAA First Round Matchup with Davidson

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Max Christie

Malik Hall

Joey Hauser

A.J. Hoggard

Foster Loyer

Tyson Walker

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