Michigan basketball vs Michigan State: 3 keys for Wolverines in top-15 rivalry matchup

Posted by author February 21, 2025 Basketball

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Michigan will need to prevent Michigan State from scoring in transition and force them to take low-percentage shots.
While Michigan State has more experience in this rivalry, Michigan is confident in its ability to perform at a high level.

Michigan basketball is set for its biggest game of the season on Friday as the No. 12 Wolverines host No. 13 Michigan State in a battle for first place in the Big Ten.

The Wolverines hold a half-game lead over the Spartans, with whoever wins Friday taking the lead for the regular-season Big Ten title with roughly three weeks left.

Here are three keys for who wins this first of two rivalry matchups this year, with the rematch taking place March 9 in East Lansing.

Playing in the half-court

Michigan State likes to run the floor, with 17.5 transition points per game; in Big Ten play it also adds more than 13 points per game on second-chance points. That’s more than 30 points the Spartans average beyond the traditional halfcourt setting.

Michigan likes to play at a quick pace, too, at the second highest tempo in the Big Ten, according to KenPom. But the Wolverines need to find a way to slow MSU from getting in transition on one side of the ball, while finding a way to “tilt the floor,” as the U-M coaches like to call it, when they have the ball and are trying to get downhill.

If Michigan can make MSU compete in the halfcourt, the goal will be to force the Spartans as far from the basket as possible. Michigan State is shooting just 29.1% on 3-pointers (it’s slightly better at 32% in league play, though that’s still just 16th among 18 teams); the more U-M can make the Spartans settle from the outside, the better it figures to bode for their results.

“Protecting the paint, keeping them off the line,” assistant coach Kyle Church said. “Huge, huge focuses for us.”

Leaning on Area 51

The matchup of the bigs is also one of the most intriguing aspects of this contest.

U-M has its 7-foot duo known as “Area 51” — Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf — that will get the bulk of the work, with Will Tschetter subbing for both at various points. The Spartans, however, rotate several bigs, whether it be Carson Cooper, Jaxon Kohler, Szymon Zapala, Xavier Booker and possibly Coen Carr or Frankie Fidler at the 4.

Izzo loves to play man defense and it’s hard to see anybody on the MSU side of things truly matching up with either of U-M’s studs one-on-one. The Wolverines have abused most everybody with their various actions off of the 4-5 ball screen. Perhaps Cooper has the length to handle one of the bigs and maybe Carr has the athleticism to stay in front of Wolf, but this will be MSU’s toughest front court test to date.

The Wolverines (at 79.2 inches) are the nation’s seventh-tallest team on average, and in a game in which they know the opponent is deeper, U-M’s stars need to be stars, while staying out of foul trouble.

“We haven’t seen that kind of combo probably at all this year,” Cooper told reporters in East Lansing this week. “So for us, it’s gonna be a test of our togetherness as four and five men, as forwards, to kind of adapt to their level, play style and their skill level, with being able to shoot and the strength and power of Goldin down there in the center.”

Knowing the rivalry

Players and coaches in Ann Arbor know this is their first time in the MSU/U-M rivalry.

The biggest rivalry game Wolf had played in prior to joining U-M was Yale-Princeton, while Goldin said FAU didn’t have any rivals. Menwhile, the Michigan vs. Michigan State rivalry is one of the most passionate in America, and leaning into that will play a factor come Friday night.

“I’ve seen some clips the past few days and they’re a little eye opening,” assistant coach Kyle Church joked of the rivalry. “I would be lying if I said I fully grasped it, but we’re going to write a new chapter here on Friday night. I know our guys will be extremely excited to play. … Feel really blessed to be a part of it, Friday is going to be an awesome, awesome environment.”

May grew up with Indiana ties, so he knows about Big Ten rivalries, even as this is his first time in this one. While he said he’ll embrace it, U-M head coach Dusty May doesn’t want to overdo it.

“We know the importance of the rivalry, but we’re not going into it, I guess, relying on our fans, relying on anyone else to win us the game because it’s a rivalry,” May said Monday. “We have to put in the work, we have to prepare, and we have to perform at a high level in that environment.”

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.