Both the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans did their jobs this week, beating the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Hoosiers respectively in order to set up a major showdown on Saturday night.
Officially, the stage is set. It’s the Wolverines heading to East Lansing to take on the Spartans. Both teams are undefeated in conference play. Both are ranked comfortably within the top 25. Both are sitting atop the Big Ten standings, and both have been winning impressively with great guard play in spite of being without two of their bigger-name post players. What’s not to love?
Forever, people have wondered what things would be like in Michigan if the Spartans and Wolverines could ever resemble Duke and North Carolina basketball. With both of those programs falling a bit backwards in 2014, finally, fans will get a chance to see the rivalry showcased. With ESPN’s College Gameday rolling into town, all basketball eyes will be on Michigan Saturday night.
For the third consecutive year, Michigan and Michigan State will meet with plenty on the line on the hardwood. A win for either the Wolverines or Spartans would leave them as the only Big Ten unbeaten, and though it’s probably still too early to be thinking championship, with a win, either would assure they’d still be in the conversation deep into February. Perhaps, Michigan and Michigan State might even end up as the only teams competing for a Big Ten crown late this year. Wouldn’t that be something?
Considering Michigan has been without Mitch McGary, that’s an outstanding accomplishment for them to still be heavily within the equation. Nik Stauskas has been playing outstanding basketball, scoring and distributing while role players such as Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford have been playing fantastic to help pick up the team with quality minutes. John Beilein has been striking all the right chords. The Wolverines are hot, and in sports, there’s nothing more dangerous than a hot foe coming into a big game with confidence.
Perhaps the only team hotter in the Big Ten is Michigan State, who’s been able to get by for four games without Adreian Payne. Though there’s still plenty of talent with players like Gary Harris, Keith Appling and Branden Dawson picking the team up with major efforts, the Spartans’ survival without Payne over such a long stretch has been equally as impressive. Given their survival of this adversity, they’re proving mentally tough in addition to being physical, which usually proves to be a winning combination for Tom Izzo’s best teams come March.
Clearly, we’ve come a long way from the days when Michigan State’s victories were assumed, and that’s a good thing. To keep a rivalry healthy, parody is important. No matter how much opposing fans might delight in the repeated struggles of a rival, the Spartans are better off with a strong Michigan hoops team, and vise-versa. Each team needs losses like they sustained to the other last season (Michigan’s embarrassing defeat in East Lansing, Michigan State’s heartbreaker in Ann Arbor) to stoke the fire and fuel the passion. Fortunately, that’s exactly what’s been happening lately, as the teams have split the last three years.
In a year when the Big Ten again seems intent on eating its own as it always does, both Michigan and Michigan State are the ones waiting until late January to pick up their first loss. Fans of both programs can delight in that. Saturday, it’s not about Duke and North Carolina, Kentucky and Louisville or Syracuse and Georgetown. It’s the Spartans and Wolverines atop the college basketball landscape.
Times like this have been overdue. Settle in for the next chapter, which could end up being the best.
Player Of The Week: Gary Harris, G, Michigan State. It’s tough not to make Stauskas a back-to-back winner, but considering Harris has been playing just as well, we’ll give him the award this week. All he did was contribute back to back 20 point efforts last week against Illinois and Indiana, which helped the Spartans continue to survive the loss of Adriean Payne. Harris has come alive on the defensive end as well, with seven steals in both of those games. He’s playing the most complete basketball of anyone in the conference not named Stauskas.
Game Of The Week: Michigan State at Iowa, Tuesday. There’s no need to double up and wax more poetically about the Spartans taking on the Wolverines, so we’ll provide the next big viewing option after that. Tuesday night, the Spartans hit the road again for Iowa City and a date with the tough Hawkeyes. Iowa was exposed by Michigan on Wednesday, meaning they’ll be ready for the Spartans. Michigan State has squeaked out several close victories at Carver Hawkeye Arena in the past few years. Might they finally get bit? This figures to be a good one.
Stat Of The Week: 24, the amount of points Michigan got from Trey Burke, Mitch McGary and Tim Hardaway Jr. in last season’s ugly loss in East Lansing. Considering the team only scored 52 total, that means everyone else only managed to contribute 28 points. The scoring effort will have to be much more balanced for the Wolverines this time around to win, and Nik Stauskas will have to improve on a 4-8 shooting, zero assist night.
Standings Update:
#3 Michigan State 18-1 (7-0 Big Ten)
#21 Michigan 14-4 (6-0 Big Ten)
Max DeMara is a senior editor at The Detroit Sports Site. You can find him on Twitter @SportsGuyTheMax