March Madness in Michigan: Spartans and Wolverines play in Sweet 16 games on Friday
Spartans prepare for Sweet 16 matchup against Ole Miss
Jennifer Hammond reports from East Lansing on Tuesday where Michigan State is preparing for their Sweet 16 matchup with Ole Miss on Friday night.
(FOX 2) - The improbable scenario where an in-state rivalry between two Michigan college basketball teams is only one game away for both the University of Michigan and Michigan State.
Both schools play in the Sweet 16 on Friday, with a shot at the Elite Eight on the line.
Big picture view:
The University of Michigan and Michigan State University both play Friday in the March Madness tournament after surviving the first weekend that included some great basketball and heart-pounding finishes.
The Wolverines eked out a victory over UC San Diego before pulling ahead of Texas A&M in the Round of 32. Meanwhile, the Spartans took care of Bryant before outlasting New Mexico.
The challenge gets a little harder with the tournament field down to a quarter of its starting size. Michigan will play the top seed in Auburn, while MSU will play Mississippi.
Dig deeper:
Michigan is coached by first-year coach Dusty May, who will have his hands full with the tournament's top overall seed in Auburn, who won the SEC division in a year when the conference sent 14 schools to March Madness.
No stranger to underdog games, the Wolverines will need to do it again. Auburn is a 9.5-point favorite.
Michigan State won the Big Ten conference following a surprising season of over performance compared to preseason expectations. They are 3.5-point favorites over the Rebels, who are coached by Chris Beard, the man that helped beat MSU during the Spartans' last visit to the Final Four in 2019.
How to Watch:
Both teams will play at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Friday, March 28.
The games will be broadcasted on CBS.
MSU will play first at 7:09 p.m. while UM is scheduled to play at 9:39 p.m.
What's at stake:
If both teams can win, then it will come down to a Spartan-Wolverine match for a ticket to the Final Four.
Rarely do the stakes rise so high that an in-state, inter-conference rivalry headlines one of the four games of the Elite Eight round. But the opportunity is there - but only if both teams can seize it.
The Source: Previous reporting and ESPN.