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Michigan State basketball will play road game vs. Michigan this weekend

By Connor Muldowney

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 04: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Tyson Walker #2 during the first half of a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Madison Square Garden on February 4, 2023 in New York, New York. Rutgers defeated Michigan State 61-55. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 04: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans talks with Tyson Walker #2 during the first half of a game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Madison Square Garden on February 4, 2023 in New York, New York. Rutgers defeated Michigan State 61-55. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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Following the tragedy that struck campus on Monday night, Michigan State cancelled or postponed all of its athletic events and activities for the remainder of the week. That included the Michigan State basketball game on Wednesday night against Minnesota.

It also put into question the Michigan State versus Michigan rivalry game in Ann Arbor on Saturday afternoon. There was a good chance that the Spartans wouldn’t travel for it.

On Thursday, however, the school announced that the athletic events and campus activities would resume on Friday.

That meant that Michigan State would resume basketball activities and it would travel to Ann Arbor for the game on Saturday that’s been much anticipated.

The hatred between the two schools has calmed dramatically amid the campus shooting as Michigan students and faculty showed support for Michigan State with a candlelight vigil on Wednesday. And just the outpouring of support from Michigan fans this week has been unbelievable and appreciated.

So if you’re expecting a hostile environment on Saturday, it might be toned down a bit.

Michigan State basketball looking to sweep for first time since 2018-19

The last time Michigan State basketball swept the season series against Michigan was back in 2018-19 when Cassius Winston put on a show in the two regular-season games (along with Xavier Tillman) and Matt McQuaid had a career game in the Big Ten Tournament to beat the Wolverines for the third time in a month.

Beating Michigan on Saturday and sweeping the series won’t be easy, however.

Michigan, although not likely to make the NCAA Tournament, has been playing much better lately and they’ve given Indiana and Wisconsin a run for their money in recent games following a short winning streak that got the Wolverines back on track.

Michigan State needs to play a complete 40-minute game if it wants to go into Crisler and pick up a win over Michigan to improve to 17-9 and aim for a 5-6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

dark. Next. MSU football's way-too-early 2023 game-by-game predictions

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