Tonight at 9:57 p.m. ET the No. 4 Michigan State Spartans will be favored against the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers at Madison Square Garden, when they tip off for a Sweet 16 matchup on TBS that can be live streamed free here. Spartans fans can find the radio broadcast on Detroit 950 AM, while Cavaliers fans will tune in to Sports Radio 910.
The Spartans are finally healthy, but favoring a No. 4 seed over a No. 1 might be too generous. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is plenty happy to have his team intact once again, but fears they're not quite clicking as he'd like had they been together all year.
"I do think we have taken giant steps in the last 2.5 weeks," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "We got our guys back. ... I thought the Big Ten tournament we did play awfully well. I thought we played well in Spokane. Are we back to the team we were then? Probably not, but are we as close as we have been all year? Definitely."
They have more star power than Virginia, which might be the main reason for being favored, but the Cavaliers have played steady defense all year and proved they're capable of putting up points their last time out. "I think our guys, they have been steady all year since we got into conference play," said coach Tony Bennett.
"I think they know what's in front of them, and again it's not changing anything. It's just doing it probably a little bit better."
Michigan State's offense is potent, and chock full of future NBA talent, but Virginia boasts a terribly stingy defense that allowed just 55.3 points per game. Izzo believes his charges can play any style of game however, and will be ready to adapt to a physical grind-it-out game.
"Over the years I think one of the successes we have had as a program is we could play racehorse or smash mouth," Izzo said. "We have been able to play both."
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