Michigan State Claims First Outright Big Ten Championship Since 2009
The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers in a close game Sunday afternoon 68-63.
Today's win means MSU cleared the final roadblock between it and an outright regular season Big Ten championship The last time Michigan State sat alone atop its conference at the end of the regular season was 2009.
That season, North Carolina won over MSU in the March Madness championship game at Ford Field, 89-72.
Though Michigan State certified its position as a Big Ten champion on senior night against Illinois, there was a scenario in which it could have shared its title with Ohio State.
If Wisconsin had won, Ohio State via a tiebreaker home win from January would take the No. 1 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament.
Instead, the No. 1 seed in Madison Square Garden will go to the Spartans. The green and and white will tip off their first game at 12 p.m. on Friday.
One of the bigger headlines going into today's game was whether or not Miles Bridges would play due to a report that appeared to implicate his mother in a recruiting violation.
Before the game, news came out that Bridges was cleared to play.
Bridges finished today's game with 10 points and eight rebounds in 38 minutes on the floor.