College Basketball: Michigan State will try to slow Ohio State's Deshaun Thomas

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo knows that to stop Deshaun Thomas is the surest way to stop No. 11 Ohio State.

"Thomas is shooting the lights out. He's been really effective," Izzo said during preparations for his 18th-ranked Spartans' home game against the Buckeyes on Saturday night. "We've got to contain Thomas."

The thing is, no one really has been able to do that all season.

The 6-foot-7 junior leads the Big Ten in scoring (by more than two full points) at 20.3 points a game. He hasn't been held below 14 points all season, and he's been between 16 and 24 points in his last 10 games.

What's more, he actually likes it when opposing teams key on him, double-team him or throw some junk defense at him.

"I'm a mismatch nightmare out there," he said Friday. "They go small, I can post them up. If they go big, I can go around them or pick and pop. It's sort of a challenge."

A year ago, the Buckeyes had two-time all-American Jared Sullinger down low and wing William Buford on the perimeter. Then Sullinger left for the NBA after just two seasons and Buford graduated as one of the school's all-time scoring leaders.

Now Ohio State tends to look to Thomas first to get things going when it has the ball.

Kentucky frosh out. Kentucky has announced that forward Willie Cauley-Stein is out after undergoing a "minor procedure" on his left knee.

The 7-foot freshman did not practice Friday before the Wildcats (11-5, 2-1 SEC) departed for Saturday night's Southeastern Conference game at Auburn. Kentucky spokesman DeWayne Peevy would not say if Cauley-Stein had surgery.