Wisconsin Upsets Michigan State, Battle Between the Two Kansas Teams

After dealing with a season full of injuries, it was only a matter of time before No. 9 Michigan State (20-4, 9-2) fell again to one of its conference foes. This time it was Wisconsin (19-5, 6-5) in a 60-58 loss on Sunday.

The Badgers, who entered the game after losing five of its six recent games (three at home), looked to struggling Traevon Jackson to hit the winning shot with a jumper as 2.1 seconds remaining in the game. This followed a 3-pointer by Michigan State’s Adreian Payne to tie the game at the 10-second mark. The team gave it one more shot as the clock expired with another 3-pointer the ball didn’t go in.

A Wisconsin win!

This came as Wisconsin committed 14 turnovers in the game while four of its players had double-figure games with freshman Nigel Hayes coming off the bench as the team’s leader with his 14 points. Sam Dekker added 11 points.

Traevon Jackson

Jackson has a reputation as a clutch player from last season but he has struggled in the last five games as he went 12-of-45 in shooting. He said of Sunday’s game-winning basket via the Associated Press, “That’s sort of what they expected out of me is just to finish the game. The pull-up was there, and I was blessed to be able to make it go in.”

As for Michigan State, Payne led in scoring with his 24 points and Travis Trice contributed 13. Gary Harris, who entered the game as the team’s top scorer with his 18.2 points per game, underwent his worst game for the season on Sunday. He scored six points after going 3-for-20 from the field and 0-for-7 in 3-pointers.

With the win, Wisconsin should reappear in the Top 25. CBS Sports has them at No. 19 while Michigan State remained in the ninth spot. These two teams will not meet again in the regular season and with Wisconsin’s win, it snapped a five-win streak against them by Michigan State.

Wisconsin will now look ahead to Thursday’s game against Minnesota (16-8, 5-6). The Badgers sit at 33/1 to win the 2014 Men’s NCAA Championship.

Michigan State also has a few day’s off and will play Northwestern (12-12, 5-6) on Thursday. The Spartans are 15/2 to win the Big Dance.

In other Sunday action, No. 1 Syracuse (23-0, 10-0) kept its perfect season alive with a 57-44 win over Clemson (15-7, 6-4). After undergoing his worst game of the season on Monday, C.J. Fair rebounded and scored 19 points for the Orange while Jerami Grant contributed 12.

On Wednesday, Syracuse will face a tougher test as it tries to attain its 24th straight win: they’ll play No.22 Pitt (20-4, 8-3). Syracuse sits at 7/1 to win this year’s championship.

For Monday night hoops action, the headliner is a battle with the two Kansas teams: No. 8 Kansas (18-5, 9-1) at Kansas State (16-7, 6-4).

Andrew Wiggins

Kansas will bring its talented freshman duo of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid. Wiggins is the team’s leader in scoring with his 16.0-point average along with his 6.0 rebounds. Embiid is a little behind with his 10.9 average points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks each game.

In Saturday’s 83-69 win over West Virginia, the duo scored a combined 30 points with Wiggins at 19 while Embiid, who battled foul problems, contributed 12 rebounds for double-double No. 6.

The Wildcats have their own talented freshman, Marcus Foster, who scored 34 points on Saturday–a season high–in the team’s 75-57 upset of No. 15 Texas. His performance came from 5 of 8 3-pointers and eight shots within the arc.

Foster will look for a better game than last against Kansas as he scored seven points (3-of-12 shooting).

In this last meeting on Jan. 11, Kansas won 86-60. Kansas State will look to avenge this loss and try to add another quality win to its tournament resume.  It won’t happen as Kansas gets another win against this foe (-3.5, 136 o/u)