Michigan currently leads the series, which began on January 9, 1909. However, Michigan State currently leads the series since joining the Big Ten in 1950. As a result of the Big Ten moving to 11 teams with the addition of Penn State, teams were not guaranteed two games against each other. Accordingly, the schools chose to play one game that did not count as a conference game in 1997. When the Big Ten went to a 20-game conference schedule in 2018–19, the conference announced that the teams would always play each other twice in each season. A 1996 rollover accident during Michigan's recruitment of Mateen Cleaves led to a long investigation surrounding the University of Michigan basketball scandal. Cleaves eventually matriculated at Michigan State. Despite the intense rivalry for basketball recruits and resources and the intensity of the rivalry in other sports, the rivalry had not been intense (as measured by rankings) on the basketball court until the 2010s. On January 27, 2011, the Wolverines were 10–9 and 1–6 in the Big Ten on the season. Dating back to the second meeting of the
1997–98 season, Michigan State had won 18 of 21 meetings between the team up to that date, and had not lost in East Lansing to their rivals in 14 years. With 21 seconds left and the Wolverines up two, Michigan guard
Stu Douglass made a three-point shot to put his side up five and consequently cement a win; the final score was 61–57. Despite both teams ultimately finishing the season unranked, both teams would make the
tournament, and this game would help serve to launch the rivalry into this new era of intensity (and Michigan, as a program, into a new sustained run of success). On February 12, 2013, for the first time in the series' 170-game history, dating back to 1909, the teams met while both were ranked in the Top 10. Michigan State won the game at the
Breslin Center, 75–52. The following month, both teams were once again ranked in the Top 10, this time Michigan was on the winning end of a game played at the
Crisler Center, by a score of 58–57.
Indiana Mr. Basketball for 2012,
Gary Harris, and 2013 Indiana Mr. Basketball
Zak Irvin were teammates at
Hamilton Southeastern High School, but Irvin signed with Michigan after Harris had joined Michigan State. The two were best friends from third grade through high school and even wagered on the January 17, 2012, game in high school after the two had committed to different basketball programs, with Harris having to wear Maize and Blue for a day as a result. At the time of the first
2013–14 Big Ten season matchup of the teams,
Sporting News Bill Bender felt the rivalry was the best in the Big Ten largely due to the teams' excellence in the prior three seasons. With Michigan State riding an 11-game winning streak, including seven in conference, and Michigan riding an eight-game winning streak, including six in conference, the January 25 game marked the first time in Big Ten history that two teams have met when both teams were 6–0 or better in conference play. (#21/#25T) Spartans 80–75. It was the first time Michigan ever defeated three consecutive
AP Poll top ten opponents and marked the first time since the
1986–87 Iowa Hawkeyes that any team has won three consecutive games against top 10 opponents. It also gave the team consecutive road wins against top five opponents after a 36-game losing streak against them. and the first time they played three games against each other in one season. Michigan State won by a score of 69–55 securing the conference's automatic bid to the
NCAA tournament. For the first rivalry contest of the
2014–15 Big Ten season, Michigan alum
Nik Stauskas and Michigan State alum
Draymond Green, the 2014 and 2012
Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Players of the Year, respectively, had a highly publicized
Twitter war of words and bet on the game. The 2018
Mr. Basketball of Michigan finalist lineup was composed entirely of Big Ten conference recruits, including two players for Michigan and two for Michigan State. Michigan State's
Foster Loyer (3,691 points) won, while Michigan's Brandon Johns (2,792) and
David DeJulius (2,542) finished second and third, respectively. Marcus Bingham, an MSU recruit, was the fourth player set to attend one of the rivals. In 2019,
MSU defeated the
Wolverines three times, going a perfect 3–0, the first time such a feat was achieved in the series. The second game between the two teams marked the final regular season game and decided who would share the conference championship with
Purdue. Michigan State prevailed over Michigan to sweep the regular season series. In the final meeting between the team, this time in the
Big Ten tournament championship, Michigan State defeated Michigan for the third time on the season, 65–60. In each of the schools three meetings in 2019, each school was ranked in the top 10 of the AP Poll. The February 18, 2023 meeting in Ann Arbor took place less than a week after the
2023 Michigan State University shooting, with a moment of silence and displays of unity being held. The Wolverines won, 84–72. On January 30, 2024,
Michigan State defeated the
Wolverines, 81–62 marking coach Tom Izzo's 700th career win as head coach for the Spartans. The game on January 30, 2026, at the Breslin Center, marked the highest combined-ranked match-up in the series' history, with the host Spartans ranked No. 7, and visiting Wolverines ranked No. 3. Michigan won 83–71 to snap a four-game rivalry losing streak, and a six-game losing streak in 'ranked vs. ranked' contests between the teams. Michigan won the second meeting later that season, 80–70, on March 8, which also featured both teams ranked in the top ten (Michigan No. 3 and Michigan State No. 8), marking the first regular season home/away sweep of the Spartans since 2014. Another element of the rivalry is that Michigan (1964, 1992*, 1993*, 2018, 2026) and Michigan State (1999 and 2001) are the only two schools to have had both their hockey team and basketball team qualify for the
final four of the
NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship and
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in the same season. ==Accomplishments by the rivals==