The Michigan State Spartans and Duke Blue Devils are playing live on the NCAA men's college basketball schedule on Tuesday for the State Farm Champions Classic and the game is at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as two of the best teams in the nation matchup and they are ranked in the top 25 and TV coverage will be on ESPN and streaming online from the WatchESPN website.
The two teams come into the season as one of the favorites in their conferences and Duke is ranked in the top five, while MSU comes in ranked at number 19. The two teams have Jahlil Okafor and Travis Trice coming in as leading scorers and Okafor has plenty of hype for Duke and he could be their leader this year and another player that jumps at the chance to go to the NBA eventually. This season the Blue Devils have been off to a fast start and they have won their first two games and they are already averaging over 110 points per game.
Obviously that will not last for the season, but it is a promising start for Mike Krzyzewski and Tom Izzo will be looking to slow that down. The team is coming in after wins over Fairfield and Presbyterian and they have Temple coming up next before a matchup with Furman and then against Army aka the alma of Coach K. The schedule picks up with Wisconsin and they are currently ranked in the top five and some other big games include UConn as well as Virginia, Syracuse and North Carolina later in the season.
Michigan State comes in after a win against Navy and that matchup saw Trice score 25 points and they are 1-0 on the season. The team has Loyola next after playing Duke and they don't have as many tough games on the schedule right now. Wisconsin will be tough, while Michigan and Ohio State are ranked and they are in the last five of the top 25 right now.
Duke is looking to win their fourth straight game against Michigan State and they have Okafor coming in after scoring 17 points and he previously dropped 19 points in the first game of the season. Duke has played well under Coach K against Michigan State and they have now gone 8-1 in the last nine matchups and they also won in the regional finals last season. The two teams played at MSG a few years ago in this special game and Duke also won that matchup.
Michigan State had to hang on for their win against Navy, while Duke won easily in their first two games of the season. Izzo said that he has his team prepared and they feel that they have a good chance to win over the Blue Devils.
Check here for the Michigan State Spartans and Duke Blue Devils live coverage.