Michigan State Basketball Gameday: Spartans open season on road at Northwestern

© Mike Mulholland | mmulholl@mlive.com/Mike Mulholland | MLive.com/mlive.com/TNS Michigan State forward Gabe Brown (44) celebrates after a basket be a teammate in the first half of their college basketball game against Detroit Mercy at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, on Friday, December 4, 2020.

GAME INFORMATION

Who: No. 4 Michigan State (6-0) vs. Northwestern (3-1)

When: 7 p.m. ET

Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Ill.

TV: Big Ten Network (Jeff Levering, Robbie Hummel)

Radio: Spartan Sports Network, WJIM-AM (1240)/WMMQ-FM (94.9) in Lansing, WJR-AM (760) in Detroit, Sirius Ch. 84, XM Ch. 84, SiriusXM.com Ch. 84

Line: Michigan State -5 1/2

Twitter: Follow Kyle Austin

GAME NOTES

‣ Michigan State has won its last four Big Ten openers, with its last loss in a Big Ten opener coming in the 2015-16 season. The Spartans are 16-9 in conference openers under Tom Izzo and 7-8 in road openers.

‣ Michigan State has won 12 straight games against Northwestern, the programs’ longest current win streak against any Big Ten opponent. Eight of those 12 teams have been by double digits.

‣ Six Northwestern scorers are averaging double digits scoring this season, including the Wildcats’ entire projected starting lineup. Forward Miller Kopp leads the team with 16.3 points per game and is shooting 52.9 percent from 3-point range.

‣ Michigan State’s Aaron Henry is one of only two players in Division 1 averaging at least 12.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game.

‣ In Michigan State’s win over Oakland on Sunday, seven Spartans players scored in double digits. That marked the first time since 1994 that seven Spartans scored at least 10 points in the same game.

PRE-GAME LINKS

Michigan State can’t schedule final non-conference game, settles for rest and practice instead

Michigan State mailbag: Big man-centric questions as Spartans prepare for Big Ten play