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Texas Tech basketball: First look at Michigan State

By Matthew Conner

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans looks on against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans looks on against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

With the Texas Tech basketball team’s Final Four showdown against Michigan State drawing closer, let’s take a look at the Spartans and see how they matchup with the Red Raiders.

For Texas Tech basketball fans, Saturday can’t come soon enough.  Seeing the Red Raiders appear in the Final Four for the first time in school history is like Christmas, your birthday, Halloween and summer vacation all rolled into one making this week feel like a slog.

Waiting for the Red Raiders in Minneapolis will be a team they have never faced, Michigan State.  And while the Red Raiders are Final Four virgins, the Spartans have been around this block more than once.

This is the tenth time Michigan State has reached the final weekend of the tournament and eight of those appearances have come under current head coach Tom Izzo.  After taking over the program in 1995, the legendary head coach has led his team to a 603-231 record, nine Big 10 titles and the national title in 2000. Remarkably, since Izzo’s fist Final Four, the longest an Izzo coached team has gone without making it to the national semifinals was a five-year drought from 2010-2015.

This season, MSU has gone 32-6 overall while winning the Big 10 regular season and tournament titles.  Along the way, they have taken on a number of teams that Texas Tech faced this year.

On opening night, MSU lost to Kansas 92-87.  It is hard to believe but at that time Kansas was ranked No.1 in the nation as this season’s injuries, defections and suspensions had not yet neutered the Jayhawks.

Later in November, Izzo’s club handed Texas a 78-68 defeat in the Las Vegas Invitational championship game.  In conference play, the Spartans swept Nebraska and Michigan, the former being a team the Red Raiders beat in November’s Hall of Fame Classic and the latter being the Red Raiders’ Sweet 16 victim.  And of course, to reach the Final Four, MSU knocked off the same Duke team that handed the Red Raiders their first loss back in December.

And like Texas Tech, Michigan State has been on a tear after a rough patch.  After losing three-consecutive games to Purdue, Indiana and Illinois in late January and early February, Sparty has rattled off wins in ten of eleven games having last lost on March 2nd at Indiana.

So let’s take a look at the stats to see what type of team the Red Raiders will be facing this weekend.  And we will begin with the offense where Michigan State revolves around one of the best players in the nation.

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