Blair leads No. 18 Michigan State against Northwestern after 21-point outing

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Northwestern Wildcats (8-17, 2-12 Big Ten) at Michigan State Spartans (20-6, 9-6 Big Ten)

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

BOTTOM LINE: No. 18 Michigan State plays Northwestern after Kennedy Blair scored 21 points in Michigan State's 86-65 loss to the Michigan Wolverines.

The Spartans have gone 10-3 in home games. Michigan State has a 1-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Wildcats are 2-12 in conference games. Northwestern allows 74.4 points to opponents while being outscored by 8.6 points per game.

Michigan State's average of 7.6 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.7 more made shots on average than the 6.9 per game Northwestern allows. Northwestern has shot at a 42.0% clip from the field this season, 0.5 percentage points fewer than the 42.5% shooting opponents of Michigan State have averaged.

The Spartans and Wildcats square off Wednesday for the first time in Big Ten play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Grace Vanslooten is shooting 49.5% and averaging 15.0 points for the Spartans. Emma Shumate is averaging 1.8 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Xamiya Walton averages 1.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, scoring 7.2 points while shooting 38.6% from beyond the arc. Grace Sullivan is averaging 19.9 points and 5.1 rebounds over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Spartans: 5-5, averaging 75.6 points, 29.7 rebounds, 15.1 assists, 10.5 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.2 points per game.

Wildcats: 2-8, averaging 64.5 points, 26.3 rebounds, 16.5 assists, 5.9 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 40.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.0 points.

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