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Big Ten Basketball: 2019-20 key storylines to Michigan vs Michigan State

By Ryan Kay

EAST LANSING, MI - MARCH 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts after defeating the Michigan Wolverines 75-63 at Breslin Center on March 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - MARCH 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans reacts after defeating the Michigan Wolverines 75-63 at Breslin Center on March 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 21: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines talks to David DeJulius (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 21: Head coach Juwan Howard of the Michigan Wolverines talks to David DeJulius (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Michigan State and Michigan are ready to resume the rivalry. This season, these top 15 ranked rivals are well prepared for this intense Big Ten Basketball rivalry.

Approximately 64 miles and just over an hour drive separate the universities of Michigan State and Michigan. The team bus ride via US-23 to I-96 between the two Big Ten Basketball schools is not the same 10-mile drive as the US-15 to US-501 route separating North Carolina and Duke. However, the rivalry between the Spartans and Wolverines has been edging towards the same type of buildup, anticipation, and attention among the two fan bases and even nationally as that of the rivalry of the Blue Devils and Tar Heels.

This season, both teams have had their ups and downs. However, overall Michigan and Michigan State have had more ups with some impressive victories this season. Both teams play in arguably the best basketball conference in America. The Spartans and Wolverines both have good chances and opportunities to pile up wins in conference play and contend for the Big Ten Title. Both teams need wins against each other to possibly win the Big Ten regular-season title but they also both want to be victorious due to their long and rich history of playing one another throughout the years.

From that time in 1945 to now in those 130 meeting between the two rivals, Michigan State hold the slight edge with 68 victories to Michigan’s 62 wins (Some wins for Michigan were vacated due to NCAA Sanctions).

The rivalry became a conference rivalry in the year 1949 when Michigan State joined the Big Ten conference. Michigan was an original member of the Big Ten but left the conference before rejoining the Big Ten in 1917. The Spartans and the Wolverines are arch-rivals and their in-state/in-conference rivalry has become very intense in recent years within the boundaries of the state of Michigan. As both teams have had success on the court the past decade and due to social media being able to stir the pot more often than not, the rivalry on the basketball court is at an all-time high.

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