Another element of familiarity, however, is less known. When junior guard Eron Harris matches up with Indiana senior guard Kevin "Yogi" Ferrell Sunday, it won't be the first time the two Indianapolis natives will have faced off — the two guards have a history of playing with and against each other off and on for over a decade.

"I’ve guarded (Ferrell) my whole life, I played against him since second grade and we’ve been close friends, so it’s going to be a fun battle between me and him," Harris said.

Harris said he only played AAU from second to sixth grade, but in that time he played on the same team about three times with Ferrell and also experienced what it was like playing against him, having a decent amount of success defending him. Harris also played on a team with Ferrell during the summer between his junior and senior year of high school.

Harris said one memory he had of playing against Ferrell included Harris causing a defensive five-second violation on Indiana's star guard. When asked how long ago it was Harris said, with no doubt in his mind, it was when they were in fifth grade.

“I’ll never forget," Harris said. "He’s probably the best player I ever played against, coming up he was number one player in the nation in third grade."

As for defending the explosive Ferrell now, Harris said it will probably be his most challenging test as a defender this season. Ferrell is averaging 17.1 points and 5.6 assists per game this season as he has a rare mix of shooting ability and quickness to the hoop, which can haunt defenses.

Izzo knows all too well the problems Ferrell can cause for defenses and said, while he plans to start with Harris guarding his former teammate, Izzo expects he might need a committee of people to stop Ferrell — and possibly even injured sophomore guard Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn Jr.

"I’m sure Eron will get the first, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see Denzel (Valentine) on him some, since Denzel can cover a lot of people, and is kind of itching to cover as many people as he can cover," Izzo said. "So, we’ll have a variety of people, whether we play (Nairn) or a little bit or not, I guess I’ll see as the week goes on. (Nairn) shot a little bit today, but didn’t do much today."

However, it's not just Ferrell MSU will need to worry about, as Indiana boasts the top scoring offense in the Big Ten, averaging 84.1 points per game and the highest field-goal percentage in the conference, making about 51 percent of its shots.

A big part of Indiana's sharp shooting is thanks to freshman center Thomas Bryant, who is averaging 12 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, while shooting the ball at the highest percentage in the country, making 72.2 percent of his shots.

Senior forward Matt Costello was disappointed in his play in MSU's one-point loss to No. 18 Purdue on Tuesday, saying he felt he lost the game for MSU because of how well Purdue senior A.J. Hammons was able to play against him, and said he will be looking to play much better come Sunday.

"(Bryant) has a lot more energy," Costello said when asked how Bryant compares to other big men in the Big Ten. "And I think (his energy) kind of goes up and down. He’s emotional a little bit, which I really respect from him. He just gets so high sometimes, but sometimes he gets a little low. Just figuring out how to play that, very physical, hard working kid so I got to go to work against him."

The matchup will be aired on CBS.