No. 8 Michigan State Hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team returns back to action on Saturday, Dec. 29, hosting Northern Illinois in its final non-league game of the regular season. Tipoff at the Breslin Center is slated for 2 p.m.

On the Air
The game will air live on BTN, with Kevin Kugler calling the play-by-play and Andy Katz serving as the color analyst. The Spartan Sports Network radio call can be heard on one of 38 affiliates and on the web at SpartanSportsNetwork.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play and Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst. The game can also be heard on Sirius 78, XM 196 and Internet 958.

Records
Michigan State, winners of its last five games and 10 of the last 11 overall, enters the game on Saturday with a 10-2 overall record. The Spartans are ranked No. 8 in the country in the Associated Press poll and No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches polls. Northern Illinois, coming off a 100-59 win over Chicago State, enters the game with a 7-5 record.

Last Time Out
Junior guard Cassius Winston (Detroit, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) scored a season-high 26 points as No. 10/8 Michigan State beat Oakland, 99-69, on Dec. 21 at the Breslin Center ... The Spartans led by 13 points, 45-32, at halftime and extended the lead to 19 points, 54-35, after Winston scored seven of the team's first nine points in the second half ... MSU held Oakland scoreless for more than three minutes and used a 17-0 run to extend its lead to 89-57 ... Winston led three players in double figures with 26 points, connecting on 10-of-13 shots from the floor while adding three assists ... Junior forward Nick Ward (Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) had 14 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Joshua Langford (Huntsville, Ala./Madison Academy) added 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

About the Spartans

Through 12 games, Winston leads the team with 16.9 points per game and 7.5 assists per game ... He is eighth in the Big Ten in scoring and is No. 4 in the country in assists per game.
Ward is second on the team with 16.5 points and third on the team with 6.3 rebounds ... He is tied for 10th in the Big Ten in scoring and ranks second in the league, and is No. 8 nationally in field goal percentage, connecting on 69.2 percent of his shots.
Langford is third on the team in scoring with 16.0 points per game, while adding 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
Sophomore forward Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids, Mich./GR Christian) is fourth on the team in scoring with 8.2 points and second with 7.8 rebounds, while redshirt senior Kenny Goins (Troy, Mich./Warren Mott) is sixth on the team in scoring with 6.1 points and leads the team with 9.7 rebounds per game, which ranks No. 23 nationally.
Senior guard Matt McQuaid (Duncanville, Texas/Duncanville) is averaging 7.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists and redshirt junior Kyle Ahrens (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) is averaging 5.7 points and 2.8 rebounds.
MSU ranks No. 9 in the country in scoring offense (87.6 ppg) and No. 14 in field goal percentage (50.1%).

The Series

This is just the second meeting all-time between Michigan State and Northern Illinois.
The Huskies won the only meeting, 76-75, on Dec. 1, 1970 in a game played at Jenison Fieldhouse.

About Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois is led by Head Coach Mark Montgomery, who played at Michigan State and was an assistant coach under Tom Izzo for 10 years from 2001-11 ... Montgomery was a four-year letterwinner under Jud Heathcote from 1988-92 and was a 1992 All-Big Ten Third Team selection ... He finished his career as the then-career leader in games played (126) ... Montgomery averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 assists in his four years and he was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Junior guard Eugene German leads the team in scoring with 21.0 points per game ... He leads the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and ranks No. 27 in the country in scoring nationally ... He has scored in double figures in 44-straight games.
Senior forward Levi Bradley is second on the team with 16.4 points per game and leads the team with 7.0 rebounds per game.
Senior guard Dante Thorpe is third on the team with 12.1 points per game and leads the team with 2.6 assists per game.
Senior forward Lacey James is fourth on the team with 8.4 points per game and is second on the team with 6.9 rebounds, while senior forward Jaylen Key is fifth on the team with 5.6 points per game.
NIU ranks third in the nation in field goal percentage (52.3 percent), trailing only Gonzaga and Indiana.
The Huskies, who hit 14 3-pointers in the win over Chicago State last week, average 7.4 shots from long distance per game.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kyle Ahrens

Kenny Goins

Joshua Langford

Matt McQuaid

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Cassius Winston