Michigan State basketball at Nebraska tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction

• What: Michigan State at Nebraska

• When: 9 p.m. (ET) Friday

• Where: Oracle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska

• TV/Radio: Peacock/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; SiriusXM Ch. 195 (MSU broadcast), 85 (Nebraska broadcast)

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• Records/Rankings: MSU is 12-1 and ranked No. 9 in both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches polls, No. 15 in the NET rankings used by the NCAA tournament selection committee, and No. 15 per the college basketball analytics site Kenpom.com. Nebraska is 13-0, No. 13 in both the AP and Coaches polls, No. 14 in the NET rankings and No. 23 per Kenpom.

• Betting line: Nebraska -1.5

• Coaches: Michigan State — Tom Izzo is 748-303 in his 31st season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Nebraska — Fred Hoiberg is 212-164 in his 12th season as a collegiate head coach, including 97-108 in his seventh season with the Cornhuskers.

• Series: MSU leads 24-10 all-time, including 17-4 since the Huskers joined the Big Ten. MSU won the only meeting last season, in East Lansing.

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Projected lineups

MSU

C (15) Carson Cooper (6-11) 10.4

PF (0) Jaxon Kohler (6-9) 13.7

SF (55) Coen Carr (6-5) 12.2

SG (99) Divine Ugochukwu (6-3) 5.5

PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 11.5

Nebraska

C (51) Rienk Mast (6-10) 16.5

PF (9) Berke Buyuktuncel (6-10) 8.5

SF (21) Pryce Sandfort (6-7) 16.5

G (10) Jamarques Lawrence (6-3) 9.1

G (1) Sam Hoiberg (6-0) 8.6

• MSU update: The Spartans dive back into Big Ten play full-go, off to their best start in eight seasons. Their defensive efficiency ranking took a slight hit after their 114-97 win over Cornell on Monday night — the Spartans now have the sixth-best defense in college basketball, per kenpom.com. They are, however, now No. 2 in defensive rebounding, only allowing 22.8% of their opponents’ misses to fall back into their opponents’ hands. MSU is No. 6 in offensive rebounding percentage, hauling in 40.9% of its own missed shots. The Spartans’ 3-point percentage is up to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/michigan-state-basketball-nebraska-tipoff-022807843.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-02 02:28:00

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