The West Coast hasn't been kind to Michigan State basketball so far as the Spartans lost to USC on Saturday evening despite the Trojans not playing a great game, 70-64.
They will get an opportunity to make up for that loss on Tuesday night against UCLA.
Before that matchup, however, the Spartans were given a new ranking after reaching a season-best No. 7 in the country. The new AP Top 25 was released on Monday afternoon and the Spartans remained in the top 10.
BREAKING: College Basketball AP Poll🚨https://t.co/8QAcZdeMcz pic.twitter.com/UA8wzo9rTH
— On3 (@On3sports) February 3, 2025
The NET hasn't been too kind to the Spartans this season as they're still hovering around No. 20 in that ranking, but the AP voters didn't think their loss to USC on Saturday evening was enough to drop them outside of the top 10.
Although the Spartans barely dropped (just two spots), they are now the second-highest-ranked team in the Big Ten, falling behind Purdue who rose to No. 7 this week.
Maryland is all the way up to No. 18 this week, Wisconsin jumped to No. 21, Illinois is now at No. 23, and Michigan is sitting at No. 24 to round out the AP Top 25 for the Big Ten.
Michigan State has a big week ahead against UCLA on the road on Tuesday night and then Oregon on Saturday in East Lansing. If they can pick up two wins, we might see the Spartans flirting with the top five again. Tom Izzo has to have his team ready on Tuesday night because UCLA isn't going to be a walk in the park.