Northwestern looks to knock off No. 15 Michigan State
No. 15 Michigan State (7-3, 1-0) vs. Northwestern (5-4, 0-1)
Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 15 Michigan State looks to give Northwestern its ninth straight loss to ranked opponents. Northwestern's last win vs a ranked opponent came against the then-No. 20 Michigan Wolverines 61-52 on Feb. 6, 2018. Michigan State has won its last seven games against conference opponents dating back to last season.
TEAM LEADERS: Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman have led the Spartans. Winston has averaged 16.9 points and six assists while Tillman has recorded 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. The Wildcats have been led by sophomores Ryan Young and Pete Nance, who have combined to score 21.6 points per contest.
CREATING OFFENSE: Winston has accounted for 47 percent of all Michigan State field goals over the last five games. Winston has 32 field goals and 30 assists in those games.
UNDEFEATED WHEN: The Wildcats are 5-0 when they score at least 70 points and 0-4 when they fall shy of that total. The Spartans are 5-0 when turning the ball over 13 times or fewer and 2-3 when the team exceeds that total.
PASSING FOR POINTS: The Spartans have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Wildcats. Northwestern has 48 assists on 76 field goals (63.2 percent) over its previous three outings while Michigan State has assists on 59 of 78 field goals (75.6 percent) during its past three games.
RECENT GAMES: Michigan State has averaged 78.4 points per game over its last five games. The Spartans have given up only 69.6 points per game over that span.
