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Michigan State Basketball: 5 bold predictions vs. Southern Utah

By Connor Muldowney

PISCATAWAY, NJ - DECEMBER 05: Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on December 5, 2017 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - DECEMBER 05: Miles Bridges #22 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates his three point shot in the second half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on December 5, 2017 at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Southern Utah comes to town on Saturday night to face Michigan State basketball. Will this matchup wake some sleeping Spartans?

Michigan State is coming off its second straight Big Ten win to start the month of December, but the Spartans have a month of non-conference opponents standing between them and the return of conference action. They must remain focused against inferior opponents.

That starts on Saturday evening as Southern Utah comes to town searching for an upset. The Spartans are 8-1 on the season and could move to that No. 1 spot in the rankings on Monday with a win thanks to Duke and Kansas losses.

Take a look at our five bold predictions for Saturday’s game against Southern Utah.

5. Spartans’ 3-point defense struggles again

Although Southern Utah isn’t the best 3-point shooting team, the Thunderbirds are going to give the Spartans troubles from deep. They make about 35 percent of their 3-pointers, but that’s going to improve slightly on Saturday night as guys like Brandon Better and James McGee will make the Spartans pay.

Michigan State often has a tough time getting up for games against clearly inferior opponents and while it will hold the Thunderbirds to under 40 percent shooting overall, they will make eight 3-pointers and five in the first half alone. That may not seem like much, but since the Thunderbirds won’t have much success elsewhere, it’ll stand out.

Tom Izzo is going to be frustrated early on with the 3-point defense, but as it improves in the second half, he will lighten up a bit. One thing is for sure, though: this must improve if the Spartans want to contend for titles.

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