No. 20 Michigan State Hosts Florida Atlantic on Saturday Afternoon

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State's men's basketball team plays its final game before the Christmas holiday on Saturday, Dec. 21, hosting Florida Atlantic at the Breslin Center (2 p.m., FS1).

The game will air live on FS1, with Jeff Levering and LaPhonso Ellis calling all of the action. The Spartan Media Network radio call can be heard state-wide and on the web at MSUSpartans.com, with Will Tieman handling the play-by-play and Matt Steigenga serving as the color analyst, and Zach Surdenik is the studio host. The game can also be heard on channel 384 on SiriusXM and on the SiriusXM app.

About the Spartans

Michigan State enters Saturday's game with a 9-2 overall record (2-0 B1G).
The Spartans are ranked No. 20 in the NCAA Net Rankings, No. 18 per KenPom.com and No. 18 in the ESPN BPI.
MSU is coming off a 77-58 win at in-state rival Oakland, with sophomore forward Xavier Booker scoring a career-high 18 points.
The game on Saturday is just the second home game in the last month for the Spartans, who played Kansas in Atlanta (Nov. 12), played three games in Maui, opened conference play at Minnesota and played this week at Oakland.
Including a summer trip to Spain in August, an exhibition game at Northern Michigan (Head Coach Tom Izzo's alma mater) on Oct. 13 and the trips to Atlanta, Maui and Minneapolis, the Spartans have logged more than 11,500 miles of travel in the last four-plus months.
The Spartans, winners of four-straight and seven of its last eight games, have two players scoring in double figures, eight averaging at least 7.0 ppg and 10 scoring at least 4.4 ppg.
Senior guard Jaden Akins leads the team with 13.4 ppg and is second with 4.4 rpg, while freshman guard Jase Richardson is averaging 10.0 ppg.
Junior forward Jaxon Kohler, who has four double-doubles this year, is scoring 8.9 ppg and leads the team with 8.5 rebounds per game, 7th in the Big Ten.
Redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. is averaging 7.3 points and a team-leading 5.7 assists per game, which ranks 4th in the Big Ten, while junior Tre Holloman adds 7.4 points and 3.8 assists (10th in B1G).
MSU is averaging 23.9 FT attempts per game after going to the line 17.2 times per game in 2023-24/
MSU also ranks No. 4 in rebound margin (+12.2), No. 14 in defensive rebounds per game (29.2/g), No. 9 nationally in FT percentage (80.6%), No. 12 in FT made (19.3/g).

About the Owls

Florida Atlantic enters the game on Saturday with a 7-5 overall record and three-straight wins, at Florida International (88-77) and at home against Jacksonville (85-63) and Texas State (89-80).
Head Coach John Jakus is in his first year as the head coach for the Owls, having spent time on staff at Baylor and Gonzaga.
The Owls added 10 players from the transfer portal and overseas to a roster that returned only three players, including redshirt freshman guard Devin Vanterpool, whose father, David, played at St. Bonaventure from 1991-95 and is an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards.
FAU has five players scoring in double figures and eight players averaging at least 15.0 minutes per game.
Sophomore Kaleb Glenn (Louisville) leads the team with 13.9 ppg, junior Baba Miller (Florida State) leads with 7.4 rpg and junior Leland Walker (Eastern Kentucky) has a team-best 5.0 apg.

Series History

Michigan State and Florida Atlantic meeting for the second time in program history on Saturday, Dec. 21.
The Spartans won the lone meeting, an 82-55 decision at the Breslin Center in the season opener of the 2015-16 season (Nov. 13).

Strength in Numbers

One of the mantras for the team this season has been a "strength in numbers" on the roster.
MSU's 90-72 at Minnesota to open conference player was an example, as Coen Carr led the team (12 points) and Jaxon Kohler had a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) ... The Spartans had four players score in double figures and 10 different players played double figure minutes ... In the win, no player hit more than 5 field goals and 12 different players scored for the Spartans.
Michigan State has 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game and, taking it one step further, the Spartans have seven players averaging at least 20 minutes per game.
Under Head Coach Tom Izzo, his teams have only had seven players average at least 20 minutes per game four other times (2018-19, 2009-10, 2001-02 and 1998-99).

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Players Mentioned

Jaden Akins

Xavier Booker

Coen Carr

Jeremy Fears Jr.

Tre Holloman

Jaxon Kohler

Jase Richardson