Published Jan 4, 2024
Penn State aims for third straight win in trip to Michigan State
Dub Jellison  •  Happy Valley Insider
Staff Writer
Twitter
@dubjellison

The Penn State Nittany Lions are set to jump back into Big Ten play on Thursday night when they travel to East Lansing to take on Tom Izzo and Michigan State. Penn State has won each of its last two games, over Le Moyne and Rider, to improve to a 7-6 mark on the year. In their two conference tilts, the Nittany Lions spilt with a loss to Maryland, followed by an upset victory over Ohio State.

After a tough start to the season, the Spartans have won their last four games, including a blowout win over Baylor to kickstart the streak. Michigan State is now 8-5 on the year, but are 0-2 in conference play thus far.

Penn State is still a sizable underdog against Michigan State (+13.5 point spread) heading into Thursday's matchup.

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WHERE, WHEN, HOW TO WATCH

WHEN: January 4th, 2024 7:00 p.m. ET

WHERE: Breslin Center (14,797) -- East Lansing, Michigan

TV/STREAM: Peacock

Radio: Penn State Sports Network – Steve Jones (pxp) & Dick Jerardi (analyst)

STAT COMPARISON

STAT COMPARISON
OFF EFF = Offensive Efficiency / DEF EFF = Defensive EFF
Penn StateSTATMichigan State

77.5 (122)

PS/G

77.2 (129)

70.3 (162)

PA/G

64.5 (44)

43.9% (231)

FG%

47.8% (53)

52.3.% (110)

2P%

54.3% (66)

32.0% (227)

3P%

34.0% (143)

73.0% (109)

FT%

69.7% (230)

35.9 (325)

REB/G

40.0 (185)

10.6 (193)

O-REB/G

10.85 (179)

1.03 (224)

AST/TO RATIO

1.68 (13)

71.9 (66)

TEMPO

66.6 (304)

1.075 (107)

OFF EFF

1.137 (37)

1.019 (122)

DEF EFF

0.928 (13)

RANKINGS COMPARISON

RANKINGS COMPARISON
Sagarin and NET rankings will be added upon the intial release of both. NET is exepcted to be released in December
TEAMKenPomESPN BPIHaslamNETAverage

Penn State

111

104

99

116

107.5

Michigan State

19

23

8

28

19.5

See the full rankings.

-- KenPom
-- NET
-- ESPN BPI
-- Haslam

Who is Penn State's projected starting five?

PENN STATE PROJECTED STARTERS
PositionPlayerPointsReboundsAssists

G

13.6

1.8

4.5

G

18.2

3.3

2.8

F

6.7

3.4

1.2

F

7.0

3.4

0.2

C

9.9

8.8

0.6

Who is Michigan State's projected starting five?

Rider Projected Starters
PositionPlayerPointsReboundsAssists

G

20.0

2.8

2.8

G

11.3

3.2

5.0

G

10.6

4.3

1.1

F

10.0

4.8

2.2

F

4.8

6.3

0.2

Penn State vs Michigan State Four Factors

FOUR FACTORS
TEAMEff. FG%Turnover %Off. Reb %FT RATE

Penn State

50.5%

15.8%

28.6%

35.6

Michigan State

52.2%

15.9%

31.5%

33.8