2023 NCAA Tournament Game Thread: #2 Marquette vs #7 Michigan State

THE VITALS: #2 Marquette Golden Eagles (29-6, 17-3 Big East) vs #7 Michigan State Spartans (20-12, 11-8 Big Ten)

THE DATE: Sunday, March 19, 2023

THE TIME: 4:15pm Central

THE LOCATION: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

THE TELEVISION: CBS, with Andrew Catalon, Steve Lappas, and Jamie Erdahl on the call

THE STREAMING: March Madness Live

THE RADIO: 94.5 FM ESPN Milwaukee if you’re local, but if you need a streaming option, you need The Varsity Network app because the NCAA is a bunch of psychos on this topic.

THE LIVE STATS: NCAA.com should have them, but that’s the only option because the NCAA is a bunch of psychos on this topic.

THE LINE: Marquette -2.5 from our friends at Draft Kings.

THE PROJECTION: KenPom.com gives Marquette a 62% chance of victory, with a predicted score of 73-70.

THE EXCITEMENT LEVEL: KenPom.com gives this game a Thrill Score of 74.2, making it the fifth most potentially exciting game of the 18 Division 1 contests scheduled for the day as of Saturday morning. #1? Creighton vs Baylor.

MARQUETTE PROBABLE LINEUP

• Tyler Kolek (13.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 7.6 apg, 1.8 spg)
• Stevie Mitchell (7.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.7 spg)
• Kam Jones (15.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.4 spg)
• Olivier-Maxence Prosper (12.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg)
• Oso Ighodaro (11.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.5 bpg)

MARQUETTE LINEUP NOTE: Tyler Kolek suffered some sort of hand/wrist injury early in the game against Vermont. It was ruled to be not serious at the time, but things have a way of becoming more serious two days later.

MICHIGAN STATE PROBABLE LINEUP

• Tyson Walker (14.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.2 spg)
• Jaden Akins (9.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.2 spg)
• A.J. Hoggard (12.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 6.0 apg)
• Joey Hauser (14.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.9 apg)
• Mady Sissoko (5.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg)