March 8, 2007

Recap |  Box Score |  Quotes

Game Two • March 8, 2007 • United Center • Chicago, Ill.
#7 Michigan State 62 (22-10), #10 Northwestern 57 (13-18)
No. 7 Michigan State advances to play No. 2 Wisconsin at 5:40 p.m. CST Friday

 
The No. 7 seed is now 4-6 against the No. 10 seed in first round Big Ten Tournament (BTT) action.

Fifteen of Northwestern's 31 games this season were decided by eight points or less. The Wildcats had a 6-9 mark in those contests, losing the last four.

Northwestern has played in the first round of the BTT every year (10 seasons), accumulating a 4-6 mark in the round.

With nine points and three rebounds, Northwestern's Tim Doyle became the first player in program history to finish a season with more than 350 points (357), 150 assists (157), 100 rebounds (102) and 50 steals (53). He is also just the 14th player in Big Ten history to accomplish the feat.

Doyle also dished out six assists in the contest, setting a new Northwestern single-season assists record with 157. The previous mark of 154 was set by Patrick Baldwin in 1994.

Drew Neitzel of Michigan State scored 20 points in the win, the 16th time this season that he has scored 20 points or more. He is only the fifth Spartan in 18 BTT games to score 20 or more. Morris Peterson's 22 points vs. Iowa in 2000 is tops in that category.

Neitzel tied MSU's individual BTT record for three-point field goals made in a game with five. Maurice Ager had five against Iowa in 2006.

In four previous BTT games, Neitzel had scored a total of 15 points. He now has 985 career points, just 15 shy of becoming the 37th MSU player in history to reach the 1,000 point plateau.

MSU bettered its BTT record to 11-7 (8-4 at Chicago's United Center). It is now 2-0 in first round games, having defeated Purdue a year ago. Today's victory marked the Spartans' ninth in a row against Northwestern, including 16 of their last 17 and 36 of their last 38.

MSU is now 3-0 against Northwestern in BTT games.

MSU led the Big Ten in scoring defense during the regular season, allowing just 56.3 points per game. Today, Northwestern scored 57 points.

MSU's 57.9 field goal percentage was the sixth-best all time in 92 BTT games. In the first half, Michigan State shot 66.7 percent (12-of-18) against the Wildcats. The 57.9 percentage ranks second-best all time by Michigan State in BTT games. Topping the list was a 61.9 percent effort against Northwestern in 2004.

MSU had 20 assists against Northwestern, tying the second-best BTT performance by the Spartans. Michigan State had 21 against Illinois in 2000.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's quarterfinal game between the Spartans and No. 2 Wisconsin, in three previous matchups between the No. 7 seed and the No. 2 seed, the seventh seed is 2-1.

MSU's Goran Sutton collected 10 rebounds against Northwestern, the sixth time this season that he has collected 10 or more.