People always love to say you can throw out the record books for rivalry games, and while the Michigan Wolverines got off to a solid start, the wheels came off in the second half and Michigan collapsed in familiar fashion, losing to the Michigan State Spartans, 81-62.
After starting the season ranked in the AP Top-25, the Spartans enter this game just above .500. They looked like world beaters in a blowout win over Baylor (ranked No. 6 at the time) in early December. They’ve been so-so in Big Ten play so far, but they are still projected to be the frisky, 6-8 seed that nobody wants to face in the NCAA tournament thanks to Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo, who picked up his 700th career win in this one.