Providence vs. (3) Michigan State, 2015 Wooden Legacy Championship: Game time

And the Michigan State basketball team is doing its best to match, and is now 6-0 and ranked #3 in America.

Following an emotional overtime loss to No. 10 Arizona on Thursday evening, Santa Clara was poised at the DirecTV Wooden Legacy to register its first win of the season on Friday.

Early on he had his way, either backing down Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr. into the lane and shooting over him or pulling up from outside. The Wildcats (5-1) have been relegated to the third-place game Sunday against Boise State.

Evansville: Mockevicius led the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding in each of the previous two seasons, and was fourth in the NCAA last season with an average of 7.71 rebounds per game.Balentine, the leading active scorer among Division I players, is trying to join Larry Bird (Indiana St.) and Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati) as the only players to lead the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring in three consecutive seasons. Tum Tum Nairn Jr.’s jersey was misspelled as “Narin.”…

Last season Miller didn’t have to worry about the turnover ratio with T.J. McConnell handling the ball.

The basketball team has back to back games against Providence and Louisville as opportunities to get two additional marquee victories under their belt before the first full week of December is complete. Can the Friars win & cover?

Here’s what you need to know about how to watch, bet on and keep an eye on for Providence’s matchup with (3) Michigan State in the championship game of the 2015 Wooden Legacy Tournament.

Key Players: Providence is led by junior guard Kris Dunn.

Valentine is a better range shooter, a better rebounder and commands the court like no other player in college ball right now. He’s averaging 18.8 points, 6.8 assists and 5.3 steals per game. Sophomore center Ben Bentil had 20 points and seven rebounds.

If not for Ryan Fazekas’s timely shooting PC might not have been in position to pull this one out. He responded with a 13-point first-half and a team-high 18 points for the game, driving to the hoop and drawing fouls on top of hitting his 3-pointers.

Providence is 4-0 on the season and 2-2 against the spread while Evansville is 3-0 on the year and 0-2 against the spread.

No. 23 Xavier 90, Dayton 61: The rivals’ first meeting since 2013 lacked drama in the second half, as the Musketeers went on a 21-0 run and led by as many as 29 points.

Tom Izzo loved that one.

Prediction: Michigan State has been a team on a mission, and they have handled every team they have faced.

One excuse could be the Turkey digesting in their stomachs, considering it was a late night game on Thanksgiving. “Everything happens for a reason, and I think this will help us”. Michigan State did not score for 4:04 minutes during that run. This one won’t be close.