Michigan State and Michigan meet again, this time with control of first place in the Big Ten — at least for the moment — to be earned by the winner.

Let's have some fun.

The stakes are obvious and large. It’s games like these that will help determine the final narrative of this year’s Spartan team. This is the type of contest Tom Izzo lives for and what student-athletes who come to East Lansing dream about.

“It’s exciting,” Izzo said on Wednesday following his team's practice. “My whole goal in life when I started this job — (when there's) about two, three weeks left to go, are you in the hunt (for a conference title)? If you did that, you’re gonna win some, you’re gonna lose some, but if you’re not in the hunt, you have no chance. That’s the excitement of the end of the year.”

“It’s always the biggest game of the year for both teams,” said junior center Carson Cooper Wednesday evening. “Just naturally, it’s the most amount of time you’re going to put into the scouting and into the prep. Just growing up, I had some friends that were over on the other side and you tend to make some friendly bets and all that. It’s a friendly rivalry when you’re a kid, but now that we’re here (as a player), it’s all business.”

Cooper also said that he texted in the team group chat on Tuesday following MSU's win over Purdue to let new players know just how serious the team takes this game and to expect Izzo to reach a “new level” at practice.

“It’s definitely a big game,” said senior guard Jaden Akins. “It’s one that you look forward to. Me being from the state (of Michigan), I watched a lot of Michigan State-Michigan games over the years.”

There’s always a different level of buzz when Michigan and Michigan State play each other home and home, but the level of excitement is reaching a different level this time around. Friday will be the first ranked-versus-ranked matchup in the rivalry since January 2020 and this season is the first time both programs have legitimately contended for the Big Ten crown at the same time in six years.

“When both programs are good, of course it’s better for the rivalry,” Izzo said. “Everybody in the state’s mad at everybody. You’ve always got your in-state rivals, but when both programs are good, it’s always a better rivalry.”

The twelfth-ranked Wolverines will enter the contest on a six-game winning streak, with all six of those contests having been decided by four points or fewer.

“They’ve done a good job,” Izzo said about Michigan’s ability to win close games. “They’ve either made shots or they’ve made stops, and they’ve been in, I think, about eight or nine out of ten tight games down the stretch, and that’s a mark of a good team.”

Michigan has essentially done a 180-degree turn from its 8-24 record last year, now under new head coach Dusty May, who arrived in Ann Arbor following a highly successful tenure at Florida Atlantic.

For that reason, don't expect another Spartan takeover of Ann Arbor.

“Last year, I don’t remember any ‘Go Blue’ (chants) or any of those chants, really,” Cooper said about Michigan State’s trip to Ann Arbor last season. “I felt like it was mostly green there. Yeah, we knew they were struggling with a lot of stuff going on, but it’s going to be a lot like a Purdue or like an Illinois (road atmosphere this time) — that level of intensity and that kind of environment. It’s going to be loud; there’s going to be a lot of trash talk. It’s going to be a lot different than last year, for sure.”