Fun Facts: Michigan State-Iowa

How fun does it get for Iowa basketball? It's Michigan State, with Tom Izzo and his seven Big Ten regular-season hoops titles. And his six Final Four teams. Why, I do believe there are some Fun Facts coming right ... now.

1. Michigan State is a pedestrian 10-5 by its standards. Its last three losses have been in overtime. The most-recent, in fact, was a double-overtime defeat to Maryland.

2. Iowa is third in the nation in free throw percentage at 77.7 percent. The Hawkeyes have shot 83.1 percent from the line over the last three games. Peter Jok is 19-of-19 this season.

3. Michigan State, on the other hand, is a brutal 326th in the nation at 63.3 percent.

4. Iowa is 2-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2002-03, when it started the conference season with three wins. Included was a 68-64 home victory over Michigan State. The Hawkeyes went on to go 7-9 in the conference.

5. MSU has won 13 of its last 14 games against Iowa.

6. This is the Spartans' first game away from East Lansing since Dec. 3. They have played their last seven games at home.

7. The Spartans were a Big Ten-best 33-21 in conference road games over the last six seasons.

8. Texas Southern defeated Michigan State on Dec. 20. Texas Southern has lost eight games by double-digit margins, and four by at least 24 points. But it's 2-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

9. Michigan State players Denzel Valentine and Bryn Forbes went to J.W. Sexton High School in Lansing. So did Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons. The coach at Sexton is Carlton Valentine, Denzel's father. Carlton Valentine played at Michigan State from 1985-1988.

10. Lansing, Mich., had a population of 113,972 at the 2010 census. Lansing, Iowa, had a population of 999 at the same census.

11. Dan Shulman is a very accomplished broadcaster who will do the play-by-play for ESPN's telecast of the game. He is a Canadian who cut his broadcasting teeth doing play-by-play for the University of Western Ontario Mustangs football and basketball teams on CHRW radio in London, Ontario.

12. Iowa center Gabe Olaseni attended Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kan. So did Michigan State freshmen Marvin Clark Jr. and Lourawls 'Tum Tum” Nairn Jr.

13. Nairn is called 'Tum Tum” because ... 'There was this movie called ‘3 Ninjas,' ” he said. 'The littlest brother in the movie was named ‘Tum Tum' and, as my mom was feeding me my bottle, he was eating a bunch of candy. She just started calling me ‘Tum Tum'.”

14. Lou Rawls, of course, had a golden voice. Here is one of his best-known recordings.

It would be petty to send that video to someone who dumped you. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying it would be petty.