Wisconsin hosts No. 10 Michigan State after Fears' 26-point outing

Audio By Carbonatix

Michigan State Spartans (20-4, 10-3 Big Ten) at Wisconsin Badgers (17-7, 9-4 Big Ten)

Madison, Wisconsin; Friday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 10 Michigan State visits Wisconsin after Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 26 points in Michigan State's 85-82 overtime win over the Illinois Fighting Illini.

The Badgers are 12-2 on their home court. Wisconsin is third in the Big Ten scoring 83.3 points while shooting 44.9% from the field.

The Spartans are 10-3 in Big Ten play. Michigan State leads the Big Ten scoring 17.0 fast break points per game.

Wisconsin makes 44.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.6 percentage points higher than Michigan State has allowed to its opponents (39.3%). Michigan State averages 79.1 points per game, 3.3 more than the 75.8 Wisconsin allows to opponents.

The matchup Friday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: John Blackwell is shooting 37.3% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Badgers, while averaging 18.7 points. Nicholas Boyd is averaging 21.2 points and 4.6 assists over the past 10 games.

Fears is scoring 15.1 points per game with 2.7 rebounds and 9.1 assists for the Spartans. Coen Carr is averaging 11.4 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 51.9% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Badgers: 8-2, averaging 84.2 points, 31.1 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 4.4 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.9 points per game.

Spartans: 8-2, averaging 79.3 points, 36.5 rebounds, 17.7 assists, 5.0 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 48.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.0 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.