Michigan State Spartans (18-2, 8-1 Big Ten) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-11, 2-7 Big Ten)
Piscataway, New Jersey; Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Rutgers hosts No. 10 Michigan State after Tariq Francis scored 28 points in Rutgers’ 82-59 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers.
The Scarlet Knights are 8-4 in home games. Rutgers has a 5-7 record in games decided by 10 or more points.
The Spartans are 8-1 in Big Ten play. Michigan State ranks second in the Big Ten with 26.9 defensive rebounds per game led by Jaxon Kohler averaging 6.2.
Rutgers scores 69.7 points, 6.9 more per game than the 62.8 Michigan State gives up. Michigan State has shot at a 47.9% rate from the field this season, 3.1 percentage points greater than the 44.8% shooting opponents of Rutgers have averaged.
The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Francis is averaging 15.9 points for the Scarlet Knights. Darren Buchanan Jr. is averaging 8.6 points over the last 10 games.
Kohler is shooting 46.6% from beyond the arc with 1.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Spartans, while averaging 13.2 points and 9.6 rebounds. Jeremy Fears Jr. is shooting 47.6% and averaging 15.5 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Scarlet Knights: 4-6, averaging 69.5 points, 31.9 rebounds, 10.1 assists, 6.9 steals and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 39.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.7 points per game.
Spartans: 9-1, averaging 81.7 points, 38.5 rebounds, 19.2 assists, 5.2 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 50.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.4 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.