The dance will continue Friday night, when No. 3 seed MSU (21-10 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) takes on the the No. 6-seeded Buckeyes (23-9, 11-7) at 9 p.m. ET in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten tournament.

"I think from the standpoint of the battles over the years, that we've had, you know, honestly, tomorrow what we should do is just start with one minute on the clock and save ourselves because they always seem to come down to the last minute of the game," Matta said.

During the two teams' lone meeting on Feb. 14, junior guard Denzel Valentine knocked down the game-winning 3-pointer to give MSU a much-needed home win.

Ohio State hasn't forgotten the tough loss, and will look to build on their 79-73 win against Minnesota on Thursday night.

"I mean, I give a lot of credit to (MSU)," freshman guard D'Angelo Russell said. "They beat us by a buzzer beater last time at their home. Now it's a more hostile crowd. We've got their crowd and our crowd, it's not a home game for them. We look to keep the crowd involved and just keep energy."

Matta took a moment to express his admiration of Izzo's program after the win on Thursday, stating he wanted Ohio State's program to reach MSU's level when he took the head coaching job 11 years ago.

11 years later, Matta's Buckeyes have played Izzo's Spartans almost to an exact tie. One of them will take the lead on Friday.

"I'll be honest with you, I have so much respect for Coach Izzo," Matta said. "When I got to Ohio State 11 years ago, that was one of the programs I looked at and said, boy, if we could ever get this program to that level, I'd be a happy man. He's stood the test of time. He's had great players, we've had great players. He's a heck of a coach. I get lucky every now and then.

"I think from that perspective, it makes it a lot of fun. As crazy as it sounds, I actually look forward to tomorrow night because you know it's going to be a heck of a basketball game."