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Men's basketball prepares to face Rutgers following postponed game

January 28, 2015
<p>Senior guard Travis Trice tries to recover the ball Jan. 21, 2015, during the game against Penn State at Breslin Center . The Spartans defeated the Nittany Lions, 66-60. Emily Nagle/The State News</p>

Senior guard Travis Trice tries to recover the ball Jan. 21, 2015, during the game against Penn State at Breslin Center . The Spartans defeated the Nittany Lions, 66-60. Emily Nagle/The State News

Photo by Emily Nagle | The State News

After a season sweep at the hands of Maryland, MSU will travel to Rutgers, the Big Ten’s other newcomer, once again looking to get back on track.

The game was originally scheduled for 9 p.m. on Tuesday but after serious concerns arose with the arrival of Winter Storm Juno on the East Coast, the game was postponed. Now, the Spartans will tip two days later, as game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday.

“Rutgers has done a great job,” head coach Tom Izzo said. “They’re the ones that contacted us and communicated all these things with (Kevin Pauga, Director of Basketball Operations). They’ve done a marvelous job.”

Izzo is no stranger to wintery conditions but he was legitimately worried about his team traveling into the teeth of the storm.

“I’ve been away from the U.P. long enough and I’m saying this seriously, not jokingly, that it’s even a little concerning for me,” Izzo said. “30 inches of snow up there when I was growing up was just another day at work and we had the equipment to clear it, and there was no big deal. But this can close down a city.”

On the basketball side of things, the Spartans (13-7 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) dropped a road game to Nebraska over the weekend, looking completely overwhelmed for nearly 90 percent of the game. That final ten percent, however, featured a fierce rally led by senior guard Travis Trice.

Trice, who had been held to just 15 points on 6-of-18 shooting from the field in his two previous games, erupted for 27 points in the loss, including 23 in the second half. It looks like he might be out of a minor funk, and his performance will be a key if MSU hopes to stay with the pack in the Big Ten standings.

The Scarlet Knights pulled off an improbable upset victory over then-No. 4 Wisconsin on Jan. 11 but have since struggled. They’ve lost four straight, most recently a 28-point loss to a Penn State team that had yet to win a conference game.

Redshirt senior forward Kadeem Jack and senior guard Myles Mack pace Rutgers offensively, scoring 14.4 and 13.1 points per game.

“(They’ve) got a great guard in Mack, and a great forward in Jack,” Izzo said. “So the Mack and Jack show is where they’re getting a lot of their points and they’re awfully good at it, as far as those two players. Some of the other players have struggled a little bit, and that’s why the up and down.”

The Scarlet Knights (10-11 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) could have a depleted backcourt, as freshman guard Mike Williams will miss the game due to a severe ankle sprain and junior guard Bishop Daniels has a strained hip flexor that may sideline him for the contest, according to NJ.com.

Rutgers head coach Eddie Jordan is in his second season, posting a record of 22-32. His squad won a total of just 12 games last year and is nearly at that mark this year.

Thursday’s matchup between MSU and Rutgers will be just the second meeting ever of the teams. The Spartans won the first game, 81-71, in December 1970.

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