No. 8 Michigan State Closes Out Regular Season with Top-10 Matchup, Faces No. 3 Michigan on Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, March 8

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:30 PM

Michigan State University

Michigan

Photo by: Getty Images

No. 8 Michigan State Closes Out Regular Season with Top-10 Matchup, Faces No. 3 Michigan on Sunday Afternoon

3/7/2026 5:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Ann Arbor, Mich. – Michigan State closes out the 2025-26 regular season on Sunday, March 8 (4:30 p.m., CBS) with its second top-10 matchup with in-state rival Michigan (No. 3) at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. The Spartans, winners of five-straight games, are coming off a 91-87 win against Rutgers on Thursday night.

Sunday afternoon's game will air live on CBS, with Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson calling all of the action. The Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard state-wide and on the web at MSUSpartans.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play, Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst and Zach Surdenik as the studio host. The game can also be heard on channels 117 or 196 on SiriusXM or on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters Sunday's game with a 25-5 overall record (15-4 Big Ten) following a 91-87 win over Rutgers.
The Spartans are No. 8 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 and ESPN Coaches polls.
MSU is No. 11 in the NCAA Net Rankings and No. 10 per KenPom and are one of 11 schools w/at least eight Quad 1 wins and are one of 11 schools nationally with at least 15 Quad 1/2 wins.
MSU ranks No. 24 nationally in scoring defense (66.3 ppg), No. 3 nationally in rebound margin (+12.0), No. 18 in rebounds per game (40.4 rpg) and No. 12 nationally in fast break points per game (16.2 ppg).
In addition, the Spartans rank No. 6 nationally, per KenPom, in adjusted defensive efficiency.
MSU is No. 11 in the country in assists (18.3 apg), with Jeremy Fears Jr. No. 1 nationally with 9.1 apg.
MSU ranks No. 3 in the country in rebound margin (+12.2) and Jaxon Kohler is No. 27 nationally with 9.1 rpg.
The Spartans are No. 27 nationally in scoring defense (67.0 ppg) and rank No. 8 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency per KenPom.
MSU ranks No. 11 nationally, and lead the B1G, in fast break points (16.4 ppg).
MSU's captains (Carson Cooper, Kohler, Coen Carr, Fears Jr.) have combined for 63.4% of the team's scoring (1,497 of 2,362 points) and average 49.9 ppg, 24.0 rpg and 12.9 assists.
Through 30 games, MSU has four players scoring in double figures and eight averaging at least 5.0 ppg.
Fears, who leads the team with 31.9 minutes played, leads the team with 15.3 ppg and is handing out 9.1 assists per game, first in Division I ... His 272 total assists rank No. 1 in the country ... His 9.1 assists per game would set a school and Big Ten record.
Jaxon Kohler is second on the team in scoring with 12.5 ppg and tops the team with 9.1 rpg (2nd B1G, #28 nationally) ... Kohler ranks No. 23 nationally with 12 this season, has scored in double figures 23 times ... His 9.1 rebounds are the most since Xavier Tillman Sr. had 10.3 in 2019-20.
Coen Carr, one of the most athletic players in all of college basketball, is third on the team with 11.7 ppg, third on the team with 5.2 rpg and 1.2 apg in 29.0 mpg.
Carson Cooper, who had 16 points and a career-best 16 rebounds vs. Duke and scored a career-high 20 points against Ohio State, is playing a career-high 26.3 minutes, is fourth on the team with 10.4 ppg and second with 7.2 rpg, ninth in the B1G ... He has scored in double figures 17 times.
Jordan Scott, who scored 15 points at Minnesota in his first career start, is averaging 6.0 ppg and 3.1 rpg in 20.0 mpg (7.8 ppg and 2.9 rpg in 22.4 mpg in B1G) and Cam Ward is averaging 5.2 ppg and is fourth on the team with 4.4 rpg.
Kur Teng, who scored a career-high 18 points at Indiana, is averaging 7.5 ppg and 2.1 rpg, while senior guard Trey Fort is tallying 3.7 ppg, redshirt freshman Jesse McCulloch is averaging 2.5 ppg and 1.4 rpg and senior guard Denham Wojcik averages 1.3 assists in 5.9 minutes ... Divine Ugochukwu, out for the season with a left foot injury, averaged 5.1 ppg, 1.5 rpg and 1.6 apg in 16.9 mpg in 22 games.

The Fears Factor

MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo refers to his point guards as the head of the snake and that if the head falls, the body falls ... Redshirt sophomore guard Jeremy Fears has been the head of the snake this season.
Not only leading the country in assists (272) and assists per game (9.1), Fears has been one of the most important players in the MSU rotation.
Per CBBAnalytics, Fears has scored or assisted on 58.7 percent of MSU's points when he is on the floor (1,117 of 1,904).
Fears leads the country in points created per 40 minutes (46.7), per CBB Analytics.
In addition, he ranks No. 6 nationally (again, thanks CBB Analytics) is assister-scorer combos, connecting with Coen Carr on baskets 63 times, including 40 alley-oop dunks (63.5 percent of their connections).

Senior Class Makes its Mark

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo reflected on the success of his senior class – which is led by three fourth-year seniors, Carson Cooper, Jaxon Kohler and Nick Sanders – during their time on campus.
Entering Sunday's game at Michigan, the trio has helped lead MSU to a 55-12 (.821) record in the last two years, including a 25-5 mark this season.
In two-year spans under Izzo, MSU's 55 wins are the sixth-most in his 31 years at the helm of the program ... The team's .821 win percentage is the third-best among those two seasons.

Core Four

MSU Head Coach Tom Izzo has said that the success of the Spartans this season would largely depend on the team's captains, seniors Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler, junior Coen Carr and red shirt sophomore Jeremy Fears Jr.
Through 30 games, the team's core four are averaging a combined 49.9 ppg, 24.0 rpg and 12.9 apg.
They have accounted for 63.4% of the team's points (1,497 of 2,362), 59.5% of the team's rebounds (719 of 1,209) and 70.2% of the team's assists (387 of 551).

Series History

Michigan State and Michigan will play for the 198th time in series history when the teams meet on Sunday at the Crisler Center.
Michigan won the first meeting this season, 83-71, at the Breslin Center on Jan. 30.
MSU swept the season series last year with a 75-62 win in Ann Arbor and a 79-62 win at home in the last game of the regular season.
The Spartans have won four of the last five games and seven of the last 10.
MSU is 34-65 in games played on the road and have won the last two games at Crisler Center.
Tom Izzo is 36-22 in his career against the Wolverines.