The Michigan State Spartans men’s basketball team is on a roll winning 13 in a row and has not lost since the Thanksgiving break. One of the big contributors is Tre Holloman. Since he has been inserted into the starting lineup, the Spartans have not lost. Some key wins the Spartans have so far are North Carolina and Illinois. Upcoming, the Spartans have multiple ranked opponents including Oregon, Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan.
The Spartans take on Oregon at the Breslin Center on February 8th. This should be a good game, but the Spartans should take home the win according to ESPN analytics. Oregon’s leading scorer, Nate Bittle, a 7-foot center, will have to be blocked out so Oregon won’t have many second-chance shots. Michigan State’s 3-point shooting has not been the best, but it has recently been stepped up by Tre Holloman, who hit back-to-back three-point shots in under a minute against Minnesota.
The next big game for the Spartans is at Illinois, which will be a big game to see if the Spartans are a legit contender. Even though the Spartans have already beaten the Illini, it will be harder for them to win again. In their last matchup, the Spartans held Illinois’s top scorer freshman, Kasparas Jukucionis, to 3 points and he fouled out, which played a major part in the Spartan’s victory. In Jukocionis’s place was another freshman, Will Riley who stepped up big time and who the Spartans will have to slow down in their next matchup.
On February 18, the Spartans will take on the Purdue Boilermakers. This is their first and only meeting this season and it should be a good one. Both of these teams are fighting for the top spot in the Big 10. Both teams have lost just once in their last 5games. Purdue had a loss against Ohio State in a game which they lost by 3, 70-73. Michigan State just lost to USC in a close game 70-64. If the Spartans want to get a win against the Boilermakers they need to stop their trend of starting slow, and if they stop it, they should come out victors in this battle. In their past few games, they have gotten off to bad/slow starts that just came back to bite them against USC.
The Spartans take on the Michigan Wolverines twice, but the most exciting game will be their second matchup on March 9th. Both teams are performing better than they did last year and this year’s matchup should be a good one, unlike last year’s Spartan sweep. For the Spartans to win, they will need to shut down Vlad Goldin, Danny Wolf, and Tre Donaldson, Michigan’s main players. If those players don’t score it should go the Spartans way. The Spartans need to hit shots from behind the arc, as it has been their struggle all season and Michigan’s strength.
If the Spartans win all of these matchups, I see them being a 1-2 seed in March Madness, but that would be a stretch winning against the tough-ranked teams. I see them being a 3 seed in the tournament and making a good run.
