EAST LANSING — Sunday wasn’t Julius Marble’s introduction to the Michigan State-Michigan basketball rivalry.
But it was the freshman’s first take-notice moment to the conference that he might be growing into an important role for the Spartans.
Marble grabbed three rebounds and had a blocked shot in 8 minutes, 35 seconds of No. 8 MSU’s 87-69 win over No. 19 Michigan at Breslin Center. He saw just 1 minute in Thursday’s blowout of Illinois and did not play in the Spartans’ first two Big Ten wins over Rutgers and Northwestern.
“I came on my visit last year to watch the game, and that’s what drew me in.