The Michigan State Spartans will take on the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday night in one of the marquee matchups of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge this year. Michigan State comes in at 7-0 and ranked third in the nation while Louisville comes in at 5-0 and ranked 24th in the nation.
There are many people that would contend that Michigan State is playing better than any other team in the country and they have a good argument. The Spartans have won every game by double-digits, except for the six point win against Kansas, and that includes a nice win over Providence. Some people think this could be one of Tom Izzo's best teams ever and the way they have started out it would be hard to argue.
Michigan State is led by one of the early frontrunners for National Player of the Year in Denzel Valentine. Valentine already has two triple-doubles this season and is almost averaging one as he has 19.9 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. Valentine does everything for the Spartans and that includes knocking down the long ball as he has made 43 percent from beyond the arc this season.
Aside from Valentine, a player to watch for Michigan State is freshman stud Deyonta Davis. Davis was a five-star recruit and has come in and played well from the start. He is third on the team with 10.6 points per game and he leads the team with 2.3 blocks per game. Davis is making 67 percent of his field goals as well and has already made a big impact for the Spartans down low.
Louisville has also been impressive so far this season winning all five over their games by at least 20 points but they are tougher to get a read on. This Cardinals team is very different than last year's team and they haven't really played anyone yet so this will be a big test for them. Rick Pitino thought his team wasn't ranked before this week because of the ongoing investigation into the escort allegations but they have cracked the top 25 this week. Now Louisville will have to prove they belong.
Without Montrezl Harrell or Terry Rozier this year, Louisville has been led by senior guard Damion Lee. Lee is averaging 17.4 points through five games while shooting 56 percent from the field and 36 percent from three. Lee is in his first season with Louisville after transferring from Drexel where he averaged more than 21 points a year ago.
Louisville does have two returning players that have made an impact so far this season in Quentin Snyder and Mangok Mathiang. Snyder started for the Cardinals last year but has played a more prominent role this season as he is averaging 10 points per game while making 39 percent of his three pointers. Mathiang didn't play all that much last season but he is averaging 7.6 points and a team leading 7.2 rebounds per game. Mathiang is coming off a career game in Louisville's win over Saint Louis as he had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Louisville will need a repeat performance against the Spartans.
These two teams met in the Elite Eight last year in a game which Michigan State ended up winning. Both teams are extremely different now but it will still be a fun one as they are two of the elite programs in America. This will be the first matchup between Izzo and Pitino in the regular season although they have met three times in the NCAA tournament. Izzo has beaten Pitino in two of their three matchups.
The game is set to tip off at 7:15 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Michigan State radio broadcast go here and for the Louisville radio broadcast go here.
