On Sunday night, a pair of regular conference champions will meet in a sneaky good matchup. Second seeded Michigan State, the Big Ten winner, will try for the magic sixteenth Sweet Sixteen appearance of coach Tom Izzo's career. Meanwhile, the Mountain West champion, tenth seeded New Mexico will try to get to the second weekend for the first time since 1974.

After a tight first half, Michigan State blew out Bryant 87-62 in their opening game. Highlight reel Coen Carr had one of his most effective games of the season with eighteen points and nine rebounds, while Jace Richardson's floor spacing (three of four from three) was critical towards pushing the Spartans away not long after halftime.

New Mexico knocked off seven seed Marquette 75-66 with center Nelly Junior Joseph in the starring role. I wrote about three big takeaways in the immediate aftermath of that game.

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Both teams will be happy to lean on their top twenty defenses in this game. But Michigan State's greatest strength on that end, as the nation's best three point defense at 27.7% may not shake New Mexico. The Lobos are ever so slightly above average from beyond the arc and their only two shooters over thirty-five percent are star Donovan Dent, who much prefers to attack inside, and Jovan Milicevic, who hasn't broken ten minutes in a game since the postseason began.

New Mexico's lone defensive weakness is a penchant for sending the opponent to the free throw line, where they've been bailed out by the often fluky opponent free throw percentage, which is second lowest in the country. Michigan State's freshman guards Jeremy Fears and Jace Richardson are both nationally ranked in drawing fouls and are quite proficient at the line, especially Richardson at 83.5%.

Michigan State is a far more complete team, with the playmaking of Fears and Tre Holloman, the rebounding of Jaxon Kohler and their star Jaden Akins, but New Mexico can hang with the Spartans athletically and likely have the game's best player in Dent. The Lobos are much more threatening for an upset than they are getting credit for, but it will still be a daunting task.