Men's basketball
Game preview: Ohio State vs. Michigan State
6 tonight
• Where: Value City Arena
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: WBNS-AM/FM (1460/97.1)
• Records: Ohio State 21-3, 9-2 Big Ten; Michigan State 19-5, 8-3
• Matchup to watch: Michigan State’s Adreian Payne, a Dayton native, was on the same AAU team as Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft, J.D. Weatherspoon and Jordan Sibert. He didn’t join them in college, rumor had it, in part to escape Sullinger’s shadow. He’s a long shot-blocker, the kind of defender Sullinger has had trouble scoring over at times.
• Notable: Ohio State has won 39 consecutive home games, including 17 in the Big Ten. … William Buford has made 41 of his past 42 free throws and leads the Big Ten in percentage (.960 in conference, .892 all games). … Michigan State has outrebounded its past three opponents by an average of 20. … Draymond Green’s average of 11.5 rebounds in Big Ten games is the best in the conference since 1986.
• Next: at Minnesota, 9 p.m. Tuesday
— Bob Baptist
bbaptist@dispatch.com
| Rosters | |||||
| Ohio State | |||||
| NO | PLAYER | Pos. | Ht. | Yr. | Pts. |
| 0 | Jared Sullinger* | F/C | 6-9 | So. | 17.4 |
| 1 | Deshaun Thomas* | F | 6-7 | So. | 14.6 |
| 2 | Jordan Sibert | G | 6-4 | So. | 3.3 |
| 3 | Shannon Scott | G | 6-1 | Fr. | 1.5 |
| 4 | Aaron Craft* | G | 6-2 | So. | 8.1 |
| 10 | LaQuinton Ross | G | 6-8 | Fr. | 1.8 |
| 12 | Sam Thompson | G | 6-7 | Fr. | 2.6 |
| 15 | J.D. Weatherspoon | F | 6-6 | So. | 3.8 |
| 23 | Amir Williams | C | 6-10 | Fr. | 2.0 |
| 30 | Evan Ravenel | F | 6-8 | Jr. | 4.5 |
| 32 | Lenzelle Smith Jr.* | G | 6-4 | So. | 6.3 |
| 44 | William Buford* | G | 6-6 | Sr. | 15.5 |
| 55 | Trey McDonald | C | 6-8 | Fr. | 0.0 |
| Michigan State | |||||
| NO | PLAYER | Pos. | Ht. | Yr. | Pts. |
| 0 | Russell Byrd | G | 6-7 | Fr. | 1.6 |
| 2 | Alex Gauna | F | 6-9 | Fr. | 2.4 |
| 3 | Brandan Kearney | G | 6-5 | Fr. | 1.5 |
| 5 | Adreian Payne* | C | 6-10 | So. | 7.0 |
| 11 | Keith Appling* | G | 6-1 | So. | 11.8 |
| 13 | Austin Thornton* | G | 6-5 | Sr. | 4.5 |
| 15 | Keenan Wetzel | G | 6-4 | Fr. | 0.6 |
| 20 | Travis Trice | G | 6-0 | Fr. | 5.4 |
| 22 | Branden Dawson* | F | 6-6 | Fr. | 8.9 |
| 23 | Draymond Green* | F | 6-7 | Sr. | 15.2 |
| 25 | Derrick Nix | C | 6-9 | Jr. | 7.6 |
| 30 | Brandon Wood | G | 6-2 | Sr. | 8.8 |
| 40 | Colby Wollenman | F | 6-6 | Fr. | 0.3 |
| 44 | Anthony Ianni | C | 6-9 | Sr. | 0.2 |
| * -probable starter |
