Michigan
Game Preview | #13 Purdue at #14 Michigan State | Must win in East Lansing
Game Preview | #13 Purdue at #14 Michigan State | Must win in East Lansing
#13 Purdue 19-7 (11-4) at #14 Michigan State 20-5 (11-3)
It doesn’t get much better than this.
#13 Purdue and #14 Michigan State started the season as two of the favorites to win the Big Ten. Just a couple weeks ago, Michigan State looked like it might be running away with the confernece after starting conference play 9-0.
Spartans had a two game lead in the conference after January.
Since February 1st, Michigan State has lost three times, and now sits at second in the conference. When the Spartans lost both of its games on the west coast to start February, it was Purdue that rose to the top of the conference by half a game after winning 11 of 12 games dating back from December 29th.
But romance week hasn’t been kind to either team. Michigan State lost a home game to the hapless Hoosiers, and Purdue has dropped two straight games – to Michigan on the road and at home to Wisconsin.
Now, Purdue has to go into East Lansing for the team’s only matchup of the season trailing the conference by two games.
Michigan State is sitting at 11-3 in the conference while Purdue is at 11-4. Both teams now trail Michigan who leads the conference at 12-2.
Michigan State still has two games left against Michigan so it can control its own destiny with the Wolverines, if it beats Purdue on Tuesday. The loss would also knock Purdue down to five losses in the conference.
There is a chance that the Big Ten blows up over the last few weeks and five losses is the magic number for a share of the title, but with Michigan at just two losses, four losses seems like a safer number. That would mean that Wisconsin and Purdue couldn’t lose the rest of the way, Michigan State could only lose once, and Michigan can lose twice to stay at that number.
It’s Michigan’s league to lose at this point, but a win on Tuesday between the Spartans and Boilers could go a long way in who will challenge the Wolverines down the stretch.
Purdue’s remaining schedule:
Feb. 18 – @Michigan State
Feb. 23 – @IU
Feb. 28 – UCLA
March 4 – Rutgers
March 7 – @Illinois
For a team on a two game win streak, Purdue’s path doesn’t look any more forgiving as it finishes out its last five games. A road game at the Breslin center isn’t the recipe for avoiding a three-game losing skid. A road trip to your in-state rival isn’t the way to bounce back from a trip to the Breslin Center.
Purdue is two games behind in the Big Ten race after the loss at home to Wisconsin, its second loss in Mackey Arena after losing just once at home in the previous two seasons.
If Purdue gets back on top of the Big Ten standings to win its third straight conference title, it’ll have earned it. That starts by winning its second straight game at Michigan State after taking down the Spartans last season on a last second Zach Edey basket.
Michigan State’s final six games
Feb. 18 – Purdue
Feb. 21 – @ Michigan
Feb. 26 – @ Maryland
March 2 – Wisconsin
March 6 – @ Iowa
March 9 – Michigan
Michigan State can win the Big Ten outright by sweeping its final six games, but with a schedule like that, Michigan State might also be blown out of contention by the end of February.
It doesn’t help that Michigan State will also have the second fewest amount of days to prep over the rest of the season in the conference. The team with the least amount? Purdue.
Both teams will have had just Sunday and Monday to prepare for this game on Tuesday night. It’s likely that the loser of this game will find itself on the wrong side of the standings for the rest of the season because of how difficult the remaining schedule is for both teams.
Jaxon Kohler coming off career game
Jaxon Kohler had a career-night on Saturday against Illinois. He scored a career-high 23 points while knocking down 4 of 5 three-pointers. Kohler also grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double.
Kohler is representative of a Spartans team that is both blessed and cursed by not having a go to player. Instead, the Spartans offensive attack is spread amongst its team. Ten players for the Spartans average five points or more, seven average 7 or more, and just two players average double-figures.
“He [Kohler] might get 4 against us, he might get 8 against us, he might get 18 against us,” Painter said about Kohler. “But you know you’re gonna get a big time effort from him. That’s what you know from each one of those guys.”
Without a go to player to target, Purdue’s defense will instead look to limit Michigan State’s transition looks.
“Keeping em off the glass,” Matt Painter said on Monday. “Keeping em out of transition is one of those things that’s easy to know that’s what you have to do, but hard to do.”
Michigan State’s guards are all strong and fast, making them transition nightmares, but the Spartans need to run in part because its half court offense struggles to get good looks. Even if it does get good looks, Michigan State is one of the least efficient teams from the three point line. Michigan State is shooting just 29% as a team from three.
Most concerning for Purdue might be how Michigan State does inside the arc and at the rim after Purdue’s loss at home to Wisconsin. In that game, Purdue’s perimeter defense failed to hold anyone in check. The Badgers shot well from three, 12 of 30, but inside the arc it shot 20-22. The nearly 91% mark made Purdue’s offensive effort wasted and kept Purdue out of transition.
Trey Kaufman-Renn All-American campaign mounting
Trey Kaufman-Renn has been having a great season all season long, but his last five games have him looking like one of the best players in the entire country.
In the last five games, Kaufman-Renn has scored at least 22 points, while shooting better than 60% from the floor.
The last time Purdue went to East Lansing, a Purdue post player by the name of Zach Edey dominated against Tom Izzo’s no doubling defensive policy.
That means Trey Kaufman-Renn should be force fed by a Purdue offense that’s relied more and more on the junior in the post and off the short roll.
“If you just have a dominating player like Zach Edey,” Matt Painter said Monday. “You can always force the issue.”
Look for Purdue to force it into Kaufman-Renn early and often after Kaufman-Renn has his career-high against Wisconsin for 30 points.
A decade of Celebrate Michigan: See the images that won from 2015 to 2025
The Detroit News’ Celebrate Michigan photo contest is 20 years old. We’ve assembled the best of the best: Winners and runners up from 2015 to 2025.
The Detroit News
Gotion Inc. has asked a federal judge to order the Michigan township where it was supposed to call home to repay the roughly $23.7 million it owes the state in taxpayer-funded incentives.
Green Township’s actions opposing Gotion’s planned battery parts plant made it all but impossible to move forward, the company argued, leaving Gotion in default under its agreement with the state and on the hook for the $23.7 million in taxpayer-funded incentives it received for land purchases and improvements.
“Now that it is clear the project cannot move forward in the face of this continued opposition and the state of Michigan’s withdrawal of support, Gotion seeks to add these constitutional claims and request damages as a result of the township’s breach of the development agreement and violation of Gotion’s constitutional rights,” a May 29 court filing in the case said.
Last week’s filing seeks to amend an earlier lawsuit Gotion filed against Green Township over zoning changes that made its development all but impossible to proceed.
In February, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Gotion’s lawsuit, arguing that it was moot because the state had already found the project in default and had demanded back roughly $23.7 million that had been given to the subsidiary of a Chinese company to purchase and prepare land in Green Township. In light of that ruling, Gotion is seeking to amend its lawsuit to seek additional damages.
“…the Sixth Circuit implied that given the facts of the dispute at this point, the correct form of damages for Gotion’s breach of contract claim against the township is likely monetary damages and no longer injunctive relief,” Gotion said in the May 29 filing.
The amended filing includes demands for damages arising from the “millions” Gotion paid or spent in reliance on the project moving forward, lost profits the company would have made if the manufacturing facility were built, attorney fees and an amount “not less than $23,670,873.56 for funds advanced towards land and development costs related to the project that the state of Michigan is now claiming should be repaid.”
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, which is seeking to recoup the $23.7 million on behalf of the Michigan Strategic Fund, said it was aware of Gotion’s May 29 filing against Green Township and is “monitoring the situation.” The office declined further comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
Gotion first sued Green Township in March 2024 after the board — all of whom had been replaced in November 2023 with members concerned about the Gotion project — rescinded two resolutions needed for the project to move forward. Gotion sued in federal court for breach of contract, and a U.S. district court judge issued a preliminary ruling in Gotion’s favor.
But the Sixth Circuit later blocked the case after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration, last fall, found Gotion to be in default of its grant agreement.
The state’s finding of default was in part due to the Green Township lawsuit. The company’s agreement with the state prohibits involvement in a suit that “would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the project or the grantee’s performance of its obligations under this agreement.”
The state also maintained Gotion’s “cessation of eligible activities” for a period of 120 days constituted an “abandonment” in violation of the grant agreement.
The Michigan Strategic Fund said it would seek to recoup the $23.7 million used to purchase and prepare land for Gotion in Green Township.
The Gotion project in Green Township was fraught with controversy shortly after its announcement. The company had planned to locate a battery parts plant in the Big Rapids area, creating up to 2,350 jobs and receiving about $175 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for the project.
Local opponents pushed back on the project because of the secretive nature with which it was negotiated, the unknown environmental effects of the project and Gotion’s parent company in China. Those concerns were amplified by Republican candidates in 2024, including both Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump.
The legal maneuverings with Gotion have already come at a cost to the township.
For the past three years, the state Treasury Department has flagged Green Township in Mecosta County because its expenditures have exceeded the amount of money authorized in its annual budget. In a corrective action plan submitted to Treasury last month, the township said its deficits were “primarily due to the legal fees.”
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
A group of residents on Holland Road in Taylor, Michigan, say they are now doing everything they can to keep their neighborhood the way it is after some of them received a letter saying the city is considering rezoning their neighborhood.
“People across the street from me could have warehouse front property instead of woods and nice residential homes,” said Matthew Streicher.
Streicher, whose family has owned property on Holland Road for more than 100 years, says that has been his concern after he received a letter from the city about a proposed rezoning from residential to light industrial directly behind his home near Wick and Holland roads.
“So that’s when I also decided to start knocking on doors around here and saying this is what is going on, we need to speak out and have a voice as to what happens in our backyards, literally,” said Streicher.
Streicher told CBS News Detroit that three of his neighbors received that letter, informing residents that there’s a possibility of a new cold storage warehouse development if this land is rezoned.
“Nothing that belongs in a neighborhood,” said Tim Adkins.
“Heartbreaking, heartbreaking, you know,” said Denise Haggadone.
Many who live on Holland Road say this possibility is even more disturbing because of how long everyone has lived on this quaint road. And these same homeowners say that an industrial facility would only bring in more traffic and take away natural green space, most likely hurting their property value as well.
“It’s nice to see the wildlife, you know, there’s so few places left,” said Adkins.
On Tuesday, CBS News Detroit spoke off-camera with City Council Chairman Charley Johnson, who also lives on Holland Road. Johnson says he understands all of his neighbors’ concerns and agrees with them.
He says the company proposing this rezoning has every right to do so, and that the planning commission will vote on it Wednesday evening.
“It’s sad, I raised my kid here, and he’s planning on having this home after I pass or retire or what have you,” Haggadone said,
The residents hope to see a big turnout at Wednesday’s planning commission meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at Taylor City Hall.
The Sterling Heights City Council is set to consider a resolution Tuesday evening opposing tax policy bills in Lansing that one councilmember contends put every municipality “at risk.”
The Michigan House voted in May to pass several bills that would slash property taxes across the state, but skipped a vote on a bill needed to replace some of the more than $5 billion in lost tax revenue.
At its Tuesday evening meeting, Sterling Heights City Council is slated to consider the adoption of a resolution opposing Michigan House Bills 5872 through 5879 due to “their potential negative impact on local government revenue, financial planning, and administrative operations,” a city document said. Sterling Heights City Manager Mark Vanderpool said the city would lose about $5 million in annual revenue from the bills. He said there’s no “guaranteed replacement” for the lost revenue, and the city would need to cut services, he said.
“So we’re deeply concerned about that,” he said.
The House’s sweeping tax cuts can’t be implemented without the passage of a separate bill levying a loosely defined 6% sales tax on services that has yet to be revealed. Republicans who control the House did not hold a vote on the sales tax hike bill, which remains in committee.
All combined, the four property tax cuts passed by the House are estimated to result in a tax revenue loss that could progress from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion a year, according to a series of nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency analyses.
Vanderpool, the Sterling Heights city manager, said he wants the state Legislature to work “hand in hand” with cities, townships and villages to come up with a solution for “guaranteed revenue replacement.”
“We are more than willing ― I think our reputation precedes us ― to work with our state legislators hand in hand to come up with viable solutions that … may reform property taxes without harming communities across the state,” he said.
Sterling Heights Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko said the legislation reduces the city’s revenue without a guarantee of what it will be replaced with. She said that in the future, the legislation could prevent the city from maintaining positions that it has promised residents it would maintain, including public safety roles.
“When they put the burden on our local government, they’re actually putting it on the residents of whatever community it is,” she said.
State Rep. Steve Frisbie, a Calhoun County Republican, previously said that Michigan residents need to see tax relief immediately. He noted a ballot proposal collecting signatures last year would have eliminated all property taxes in the state. That citizens’ initiative, known as AxMiTax, fizzled out and won’t be on the ballot this fall.
“They realized that our property taxes are too high and they demand that we take action now,” Frisbie said.
More on the bills
The cuts passed by the House in May would eliminate the 6-mill State Education Tax and eliminate the 0.75% real estate transfer tax assessed on the sale price of real estate.
House Republicans also signed off on eliminating the personal property tax. That bill, largely intended to benefit utility companies, is tied to separate legislation that requires utilities such as Consumers Energy and DTE Energy to pass on personal property tax savings by cutting electric and gas rates for their residential customers. It also requires utilities to freeze rates for two years.
Jennifer Varney, Sterling Heights’ finance and budget director, said the elimination of the personal property tax would result in a $4.3 million annual revenue loss for the city. She said the personal property tax refers to the taxes that businesses pay on their assets, such as their machines and vehicles.
Another tax on the chopping block is the so-called “pop-up tax,” an increase in a property tax bill that occurs when a house transfers from one owner to the next in Michigan, uncapping a constitutional limit on the property tax increase on a home’s taxable value.
Under the state Constitution, a property’s taxable value cannot increase by more than the rate of inflation or 5% each year. But when a property is sold, that cap lifts and is reset at a new, often higher taxable value, resulting in a “pop-up” in property taxes.
Varney said the “pop-up” is the only way cities “recapture” the true value of a home. Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to roll back millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
“If you take away the pop-up … and you keep the rollback of the millage, you’re basically limiting any kind of growth in taxable base for municipalities,” she said.
Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.
asnabes@detroitnews.com
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