Michigan sophomore Darius Morris, center, celebrates with teammates after a 61-57 win at Michigan State's Breslin Center on Jan. 22.

File photo

As the Michigan basketball waits for Saturday's regular season finale against Michigan State, the rivalry will likely continue to take on additional meaning.

With Michigan beating Michigan State in East Lansing 61-57 on Jan. 27, it has a chance to sweep the Spartans for the first time since 1996-97, when Steve Fisher was Michigan’s coach and Travis Conlan and Robert Traylor were the Wolverines' captains.

Michigan beat Michigan State in its only meeting in 2002-03, but they didn’t play home-and-home that year.

Needless to say, it is more than merely a game with one-year NCAA Tournament implications for both schools.

“Any time that we play such a natural rival such as Michigan State, there’s all kind of extra incentives in the game for both teams,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “It’s obviously an NCAA qualifying type of game. It doesn’t qualify you but it helps you get in the picture. “And this is an intense rivalry and there’s a lot of people, not just the coaches and the players but throughout the state, that care a lot about this game. We’re going to do the best we can to be in a position to win it.”

Games like Saturday's can help in recruiting circles and in public perception of the two programs. The Spartans, which began the season ranked No. 2 in the country, have stumbled. Michigan, expected to be one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, is on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Now both are playing a potential elimination game on national television Saturday (2 p.m., CBS).

Beilein’s strategy goes along with the old Al Davis mantra: Just win.

“We have one remaining game with a team that went to the Final Four last year,” Beilein said. “And then we go into a (Big Ten) tournament with some very, very good teams.

“So stack up as many Ws as you can and, this time of year, every win is precious.”

Bye week schedule With most Big Ten teams having two games left on their schedule, the Wolverines get a rare late-season, week-long rest after playing last Saturday afternoon at Minnesota.

Beilein said he would rest his main rotation players Monday and Tuesday while working with his younger players more — an easier thing to do because Michigan is not under an hours requirement this week due to the school being on spring break.

“We’ll make sure we do something that is a game situation early in the week, (today) or Wednesday, and then go into a regular two-day prep for Michigan State.”

This and that Beilein said Michigan had worked to put together what it felt was a top 50 schedule nationally entering the season. It turned into a top 20 schedule. … Michigan’s end-of-season banquet will be at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, April 11 at the Four Points Sheraton. Tickets are $40. For more information, call Kay Haab at 734-395-9732. … Single session tickets for the Big Ten tournament go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, by calling 800-745-3000 or through the Conseco Fieldhouse ticket office at www.consecofieldhouse.com.

Michael Rothstein covers Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.