After taking care of business in a quarterfinal win over Ohio State, the Michigan State Spartans will look to continue their outside push for a no. 1 seed by beating Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Spartans had a tricky game against a desperate Ohio State team on Friday, but they handled the challenge by topping the Buckeyes 77-70 to advance. Cassius Winston led Michigan State with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists to help Sparty move on.
The big story for Michigan State, however, was the return of big man Nick Ward. Ward, who had missed nearly a month after undergoing surgery to repair a broken bone in his left hand, played 14 minutes and scored eight points in the Spartans’ win over the Buckeyes.
Getting Ward back could be a huge boost for the Spartans’ chances of going deep in March, but they could use more wins to help him round into game shape. The next opportunity for the Spartans comes this afternoon when they take on the Wisconsin Badgers in the first of two Big Ten semifinal matchups.
Wisconsin survived a scare from a pesky Nebraska team, escaping with a 66-62 win to end the Cornhuskers’ dreams of stealing the league’s automatic bid. Badgers’ star Ethan Happ had an unusually quiet game in the win, scoring only four points on 2-4 shooting against Nebraska.
Happ will need to have a big game in order for the Badgers to top the Spartans and advance to the finals tomorrow afternoon. The two teams met once in the regular season, with Michigan State escaping with a 67-59 win in Madison back on Feb. 12.
How to watch Michigan State vs. Wisconsin
- Date: Saturday, March 16
- Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Chicago, IL
- Venue: United Center
- TV: CBS
- Live Stream: CBS Sports Mobile