Michigan State Faces Oakland as College Basketball in the D Returns

DETROIT – The No. 16-ranked Michigan State men's basketball team plays Oakland as College Basketball in the D returns to Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, Dec. 14. Tipoff time is slated for noon.

The game will air live on ESPN2, with Kevin Brown and Jon Crispin calling all of the action. 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 133, XM 195 and Internet 957.

Records
Michigan State, ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches poll, enters the game with a 6-3 overall record, while Oakland enters with a 5-5 mark.

Last Meeting with Oakland

Junior Cassius Winston scored a season-high 26 points and junior forward Nick Ward added 14 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 the break and extended the lead to 19 points, 54-35, after a layup from Winston at the 17:26 mark ... Winston scored seven of MSU's first nine points in the half.
Oakland pulled to within 12 points, 61-49, on a 3-pointer from Karman Newman with 13:10 to play in the game, and the MSU lead was still 12 points, 66-54, after a 3-pointer from Jaevin Cumberland at the 9:20 mark ... Michigan State scored the next six points – a 3-pointer from Winston followed by a conventional three-point play from Xavier Tillman and took a 72-54 lead with 8:29 left to play.

About the Spartans

Senior guard Cassius Winston leads MSU, and ranks third in the Big Ten, in scoring, averaging 17.8 points per game … Winston is also third in the league in assists, averaging 6.2 per game.
Junior forward Xavier Tillman is second on the team with 13.3 points per game (17th in the Big Ten) and tops the team, and is tied for fourth in the Big Ten, with 9.8 rebounds per game, while adding 2.4 assists per game.
Sophomore forward Aaron Henry, who scored a season-high 18 points against Virginia Tech, is third on the team with 10.9 points per game, while adding 2.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
MSU has five other players averaging at least 5.0 points per game, led by sophomore forward Gabe Brown, who is averaging 8.7 points, 3.9 rebounds.
Freshman guard Rocket Watts adds 6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
Freshman forward Malik Hall, who had nine points and eight rebounds against Duke, is averaging 5.8 points and 3.9 rebounds.
Sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr., who has started the last four games and scored 13 points against Duke, is averaging 5.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
Sophomore forward Thomas Kithier is averaging 5.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists.

Series History

Michigan State and Oakland meet for the 18th time in program history.
The Spartans lead the head-to-head series, 17-0.
Three games in the last eight in the series have been decided by less than 10 points, including one game that went to overtime (Dec. 22, 2015, 99-93 MSU win).
The teams first played on Nov. 17, 1998 at Oakland, a 98-66 MSU win.

About Oakland

Oakland enters Saturday's game with a 5-5 overall record and three losses in its last four games ... The Golden Grizzlies lost at Bowling Green, 68-65, last Saturday ... Three of Oakland's losses are by a combined total of eight points.
Head Coach Greg Kampe has won more than 600 games in his career and ranks among the longest-tenured coaches in college basketball in his 36th season at the helm.
Oakland added 10 newcomers to the 2019-20 squad, including three transfers in Kevin Kangu (Vincennes University), Daniel Oladapo (Chipola College) and Rashad Williams (Cleveland State).
Redshirt senior forward Xavier Hill-Mais leads the team with 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, while sophomore forward Daniel Oladapo is averaging 11.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Junior guard Kevin Kangu, who was named to the All-Tournament team at the Sunshine Slam after averaging 12.7 points and 5.0 rebounds, is fifth on the team with 8.1 points and leads the team with 4.1 assists.
Oakland ranks first in the Horizon League in scoring defense, allowing just 63.5 points per game.

Michigan State Faces Oakland as College Basketball in the D Returns

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Malik Hall

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

Michigan State Faces Oakland as College Basketball in the D Returns

Players Mentioned

Marcus Bingham Jr.

Gabe Brown

Malik Hall

Aaron Henry

Thomas Kithier

Xavier Tillman Sr.

Nick Ward

Rocket Watts

Cassius Winston

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