A three-game losing streak didn’t affect the Michigan State Spartans status as the top team in the Big Ten. Had the slide gone on any longer things would have been different. Snapping the skid with a win over Minnesota last week, the Spartans made it two in a row and appear to have righted the ship after knocking off No. 20 Wisconsin to end a two-game road skid. Sparty looks to keep the good times humming against the rival Ohio State Buckeyes, who are coming off a disappointing home loss to Illinois.
Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan State Spartans
Date and Time: Sunday, February 17, 2019, 1 p.m. ET
Location: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI
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Ohio State at Michigan State TV Coverage: CBS
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Three of Michigan State’s five losses on the year came in consecutive games with ghastly defeats at home to Indiana and on the road against Illinois. Sparty ended their longest skid in nearly two years with a win over Minnesota last weekend and stopped a two-game road skid with a big win at No. 20 Wisconsin on Tuesday.
The Spartans maintained a share of first place in the B1G with Michigan but they will need to find more offense if they wish to grab the regular season title. They average over 81 points per game, but they’ve reached that number just once in the last 10 games with the under going 8-2 in that span. The scoring drop coincided with the loss of Joshua Langford, who is out for the year.
Ohio State hasn’t been the same since losing to the Spartans early last month. The Buckeyes were 12-1 and ranked No. 14 in the country, but fell 86-77 to begin a five-game skid. A turnaround appeared eminent after three straight wins, but the Buckeyes dropped a home game to Illinois on Thursday giving them a 4-7 record over their last 11 games.
Player to Watch
He’s the top player on a team that has potential so keep an eye on Kaleb Wesson when he matches up against the Spartans. At 6-7 and around 270 bills, Wesson is a big man that can have his way in the block. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the consistency isn’t present in his game yet. He’s a guy that should score more than his team-best 14.5 points per game, but that will come with experience.
Wesson is deceptively agile for a person his size and he had one of his better games against the Spartans back in January by bodying up Nick Ward. He scored 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting with eight rebounds. He was limited by foul trouble in that contest and eventually was disqualified, hurting the Buckeyes chances of getting a victory.
And he’s mostly been a non-factor over the team’s last 10 outings with just one 20-point game and four contests with a single-digit point total. During that stretch he’s averaging 10 points per game with a reduction in his minutes as well.
Last Meeting
Ohio State was in a much different spot when the teams hooked up in early January. Entering the contest nationally ranked with 12 wins in their first 13 games, the Buckeyes were looking to make a statement against the bad boys from East Lansing. It didn’t happen. And OSU has been slipping ever since. We can’t say that game was the reason why the Buckeyes have struggled so mightily. Perhaps they just weren’t as good as the record indicated and stronger competition in the conference got the better of them.
Sparty was ripe for the picking that night having just lost captain and scoring leader Langford. However, the Buckeyes had no answer for Cassius Winston and Ward, who combined for 47 points in MSU’s 86-77 victory. The Spartans used a strong second half hitting 13 of 17 triples to score 50 points, overcoming a 7-point halftime deficit. Kaleb Wesson scored 25 points for the Buckeyes, who saw their six-game winning streak end.
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The Buckeyes are one of the worst in the Big Ten at taking care of the basketball and the turnovers have caused some anxious moments for Chris Holtmann. They coughed it up 18 times in a loss to Illinois with C.J. Jackson committing seven turnovers by himself. That’s not going to cut it against the Spartans, who play a hounding defense and limit opponent’s second-chance opportunities. Turning the ball over will result in empty possessions and the Buckeyes won’t be able to catch up.
College Basketball Score Prediction: Michigan State 72, Ohio State 60
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