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Michigan State Basketball: 5 reasons Spartans will beat Oakland in Week 6

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 30: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans shoots the ball during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Breslin Center on November 30, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 30: Nick Ward #44 of the Michigan State Spartans shoots the ball during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Breslin Center on November 30, 2017 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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4. Oakland has some major injury issues

The Golden Grizzlies are going to be far from full-strength on Saturday afternoon and that bodes well for Michigan State. When it rains, it pours for Oakland as head coach Greg Kampe announced this week that star transfer Kendrick Nunn would miss the Michigan State game and likely more.

Nunn, a transfer from Illinois, has been terrific for Oakland, averaging over 21 points per game, but he has already missed three contests and it looks like he could be out for a while. Michigan State had to have been scheming ways to slow him down, but without him, that eliminates one of three double-digit scorers for the Grizzlies.

Without Nunn, the Golden Grizzlies average just under 60 points per game. Although they will find other scoring options, James Beck has been out for the last couple of games and could very well miss this one, too. That’s two of seven players who average over 20 minutes per game for Oakland.

The Golden Grizzlies will have to dig deeper into their bench than they’d like to in order to find the necessary offense, but it’s not going to be pretty.

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