Frank LorenzoA huge Big Ten College Basketball matchup take the stage this Tuesday night as the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes take on the 13-1 Michigan State Spartans, at Jack Breslin Student Events Center at 9 PM ET.
The Buckeyes are ranked 3rd in the nation with a 15-0 record, but they have faced only one ranked team this season, Marquette back on November 16th. The best feature of this Ohio State team is their defense, which’s yet to allow a 70 point game this season.
The Spartans only loss in the season came against North Carolina in early December; they beat then ranked number one Kentucky in November, and they have victories over Texas and Indiana.
“It better not become another game,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Monday. “Otherwise, that’s disappointing. And yet again, you don’t want it to be where it’s the biggest game of the year because you do have to learn in this program you’re going to have a lot of big games.”
The Buckeyes number one target will be Keith Appling; they need to stop him as he is averaging 15.6 points and is shooting a career-best .472 on 3-point shots.
“Sometimes Keith will do that,” Izzo said about Appling’s matchup with Ohio State’s Aaron Craft. “It gets to be where those two get talked about, and that’s not good for Keith. He’s got to just play his game. They’re two different kinds of players, both very good defensively. But Keith can do some other things — scoring the ball — that I think Craft can’t do. And Craft can do some things that Keith doesn’t do as well.
Michigan State is a 5 point favorite in the College Basketball Odds.
