Wolverines to Host No. 11 Penn State in Final Regular-Season Weekend

The Spartans shot 55 percent from the field in the first half, while holding Penn State to just 24 percent, en route to a 18-point halftime lead. No point man in America does more.

Freshman duo Nick Ward and Miles Bridges led Michigan State, each scoring 15 points and picking up nine rebounds.

The improvements since Michigan State lost to Penn State in early January have been noticeable.

“I can’t even imagine going through that”, Izzo said.

“But that seemed like it summed up our year”. Minnesota is a tougher team than Penn State so you have to imagine that he is going to be battling down low tomorrow, but if he is keeping this chip on his shoulder it is a good thing for Michigan State.

There were several teams that could easily fall under the “dark horse” category to win the Big Ten Tournament and make a surprising run in the tourney.

It was 18-13 before a dunk by Bridges and a 3-pointer by Joshua Langford launched a 12-0 spurt that put the Spartans up by 17.

As quickly as Nebraska got hot, however, it went right back to cold and did not score a point for the next four minutes, allowing PSU to go back up by eight. On Friday, U-M exploded for three goals in the final 3:38 for a 5-3 win. He hit 7-of-14 shots with five assists and four rebounds.

Penn State is coming off a 1-1 weekend against Wisconsin in State College. “It was a learning experience for us”, said Watkins. If they can string together a few performance as good as today’s, they can, against all odds, be a risky team in the tournament. “It was so far back, but I think we’re different too”.

Evan Taylor scored 15 points, his most in a Nebraska uniform. For five minutes, the Spartans went on an 11-point run that featured six missed shots by the Lions.

Washington scored a run to get things started in the top of the first inning before exploding for five in the second and seven in the third. Defensively, Michigan State is giving up 69.1 points against the opposing teams. I thought defensively we were very good. A layup by Ed Morrow Jr. tied the game with less than 25 seconds remaining.

Sophomore Toni Polk (Niagara Falls, N.Y.) led the NIttany Lions (8-12) at the plate, going 2-for-2, while Kristina Brackpool (Valencia, Calif.), Tori Dubois (Mt. Vernon, N.H.) and Jessica Haug (Jamison, Pa.) all tallied one hit apiece. Stevens and Garner each had 16 points for the Nittany Lions, combining to go 6-for-9 from three-point range, while Tony Carr had 11 points and nine boards.