Michigan State is coming off a miraculous shot of the year and leads the Big Ten into its home stretch. Wisconsin has tied its highest AP ranking of the season and went 6-1 in February. We’ve got March college basketball on CBS … we are so back.
No arms to twist here. Roll the instant-classic buzzer-beater, which I motion to call The Tre Holloman Heave:
At 14-3, the Spartans are now tied with all-time adversary Michigan for the Big Ten lead. Every game draws a step closer to a conference title and a top seed for March Madness. They play old-school ball: a lot of ball movement, not a lot of deep shots. Jase Richardson is coming on strong as a full-time force. Since becoming a starter on Feb. 8, the freshman has excellent 52/35/92 shooting splits with just two turnovers in six (long) outings. He announced himself as a program favorite with his first game against Michigan: 21 points and three steals in a 13-point win.
Richardson and four-year Spartan Jaden Akins are the lead dogs, but five other players average between seven and nine points per game. Tom Izzo’s team is deep and disciplined.
Greg Gard’s group is surging as well, albeit the stylistic opposite of Michigan State. Wisconsin lets it rain from the outside, shooting a conference-best 38 percent on 3-pointers.
Senior John Tonje is a seasoned and inspired bucket. He didn’t average double figures until his fourth year at Colorado State and finished with just 2.6 points per game with Missouri last year due to injury. That mark is up to 19.5 with Wisconsin, and he’s a few ticks shy of a 50/40/90 season on very high volume.
Backcourt running mate John Blackwell had an efficient 24-point double-double against Washington on Tuesday. The Michigan native should be up for a big performance at Breslin. Steven Crowl, Nolan Winter and Kamari McGee can each knock it down from 3. The Badgers get buckets, spawn heat checks and are comfortable in marathons.
Wisconsin has a considerably easier finish after Sunday: at Minnesota and home against Penn State. Michigan State goes to Iowa and then hosts the rematch with Michigan.
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(Photo of John Tonje: John Fisher / Getty Images)
