'Cats Square Off With No. 2/1 Spartans in Saturday Matinee

2/16/2018 3:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Nick Brilowski

NORTHWESTERN BASKETBALL: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Sat., Feb. 17	Michigan State	1 p.m.	Allstate Arena; Rosemont, Ill.	FOX and FOX Sports Go	SIDEARM
Radio: 720 WGN (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) TV: FOX (Gus Johnson, Steve Lavin, Lisa Byington) Social: Twitter (@NUMensBball and @NU_SportsLIVE) \| Instagram (@numensbball) \| Facebook Game Notes: Northwestern \| Michigan State TICKETS

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern plays its final weekend home game of the regular season Saturday, squaring off with No. 2/1 Michigan State at Allstate Arena. Tip time is set for 1 p.m.

This is the first of three consecutive home games for the Wildcats (15-12, 6-8 B1G) coming on the heels of playing five games on the road over a six-game span. It's also the first of four games over a nine-day span to wrap up the regular season.

Saturday's matchup features two of the top active leaders in career field goal percentage. Michigan State's Nick Ward ranks sixth (.631) while Northwestern's Dererk Pardon is 10th (.624). Pardon ranks first in NU history in the category.

The junior center connected on six of seven field goal attempts in scoring 12 points with 13 rebounds and four blocked shots in the Wildcats' contest at Rutgers on Tuesday.

Michigan State won last season's lone meeting between the teams, 61-52, Dec. 30, 2016 in East Lansing. Vic Law led Northwestern with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

This is Northwestern's first time facing a team ranked No. 1 in either major national poll since a Jan. 20, 2013 contest at Michigan.

Northwestern has posted at least six Big Ten wins in each of Chris Collins' five seasons as head coach. The only other time NU has won at least six league games over at least five straight years was a seven-year span from 1928-34 that included a pair of Big Ten championships.

Scouting Michigan State
The Spartans (25-3, 13-2 B1G) have won nine straight games en route to earning a No. 1 ranking this week in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Michigan State is coming off an 87-57 victory at Minnesota on Tuesday. Jaren Jackson Jr. led the Spartans with 27 points. Miles Bridges paces the team with an average of 17.3 points per contest. MSU ranks first nationally in assists per game (20.4), blocked shots per game (7.7), second in field goal percentage (.517) and field goal percentage defense (.361) and third in rebound margin (+10.7).