Wisconsin hosts No. 13 Michigan State at Kohl Center on Tuesday. The game gets underway at 7:00 EST and you can catch it on ESPN. The Badgers are 2-6 against the Spartans over the last four years. They fell 65-52 on 3/10/2012, the last time they met.

Wisconsin is in 2nd place in the conference and will be trying to close the gap with 1st place Michigan State.

In their last game, George Marshall put up 20 points in the Badgers 70-66 loss to Iowa on January 19th. He is putting up 5.7 points per game while also averaging 1.4 assists per game. In a 59-56 victory over Ohio State on January 19th, Adreian Payne put up 14 points and 5 rebounds for the Spartans. With 7.1 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game, he has team-best marks in both categories.

Wisconsin looks to have the advantage over Michigan State in one significant area, turnovers, where the Badgers have an edge over the Spartans, nine per game to 14 per game.

Michigan State StatSmack

  • We're so much better than you, we get lazy. Wisconsin has come back to win after being down at half against Michigan State 6 times since 1998.
  • Wisconsin has a much better NCSA Academic Ranking than Michigan State (#39 vs #71).
  • Wisconsin has a better overall winning percentage over the last 10 years (0.736 to 0.713).
  • Michigan State has to pay up to win. The coach for Wisconsin has a much lower base salary than Michigan State ($1,550,000 vs $2,640,000).
  • At least you keep showing up. Wisconsin has an average margin of victory of 8 over Michigan State in 27 wins since 1980.
  • Wisconsin has a much lower admission rate (more selective) according to Kiplinger (57% vs 73%).
  • Wisconsin is better under pressure, and has defeated Michigan State in 6 out of the last 11 games decided by 5 points or fewer.
  • Wisconsin has a much lower out-of-state cost per year according to Kiplinger than Michigan State ($33,027 vs $37,858).
  • Ryan Evans is ranked 5th in the Big Ten in rebounds.
  • Wisconsin is a better three-point shooting team (36.4% vs 32.0%) than Michigan State this season.
  • Wisconsin players are more experienced than Michigan State players (9,296 minutes played vs 8,752 minutes played).