No. 12 Michigan State hosts Northwestern following Martinelli’s 26-point game

Northwestern Wildcats (8-6, 0-3 Big Ten) at Michigan State Spartans (13-2, 3-1 Big Ten)

East Lansing, Michigan; Thursday, 6:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Northwestern visits No. 12 Michigan State after Nick Martinelli scored 26 points in Northwestern’s 84-78 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The Spartans are 8-1 in home games. Michigan State is ninth in college basketball with 19.3 assists per game. Jeremy Fears Jr. leads the Spartans averaging 8.9.

The Wildcats are 0-3 against Big Ten opponents. Northwestern averages 80.4 points while outscoring opponents by 10.0 points per game.

Michigan State makes 46.3% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.0 percentage points higher than Northwestern has allowed to its opponents (41.3%). Northwestern has shot at a 48.9% clip from the field this season, 10.5 percentage points higher than the 38.4% shooting opponents of Michigan State have averaged.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jaxon Kohler is averaging 14.2 points and 10.2 rebounds for the Spartans. Coen Carr is averaging 12.4 points over the last 10 games.

Martinelli is shooting 50.0% from beyond the arc with 1.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, while averaging 23 points and 6.5 rebounds. Arrinten Page is shooting 54.4% and averaging 13.1 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Spartans: 8-2, averaging 79.1 points, 39.4 rebounds, 18.5 assists, 5.7 steals and 5.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.9 points per game.

Wildcats: 4-6, averaging 78.8 points, 28.7 rebounds, 18.4 assists, 5.1 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 47.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.5 points.

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