Michigan State Basketball: 5 bold predictions vs. Long Beach State

With Long Beach State coming to town, Michigan State will look to blow out yet another non-conference foe. Here are our bold predictions.

Michigan State is looking to improve to 12-1 on the season, but it will have to take down Long Beach State on Thursday night in order to make that happen. Tom Izzo wasn’t pleased with his team’s rebounding performance against Houston Baptist, so you can bet that’s going to be a point of emphasis against the 49ers.

The Spartans had their best offensive showing of the season against the Huskies on Monday and racked up 107 points on over 64 percent shooting from the floor. If that becomes a regular occurrence, there’s not a team in college basketball that’ll be able to slow them down.

Defensively, the Spartans held Houston Baptist to just 62 points and 28 percent shooting from the floor. Can they do the same against Long Beach State on Thursday?

Take a look at our five bold predictions for Michigan State’s battle with Long Beach State.

5. Long Beach State torches MSU from 3-point range

Unfortunately, Michigan State is facing off against another sharpshooting team from long range in Long Beach State. The 49ers make about 39 percent of their 3-pointers, which is enough to put the Spartans on notice early on.

It’s not that Michigan State struggles to get out on shooters as much as it is teams like to rely on the deep ball rather than driving against Michigan State’s vaunted post defense. Sure, the Spartans are sometimes slow getting out on shooters, but that’s not the only reason teams have had success from outside this year.

However, fouling on 3-point attempts has become an issue and we might see another foul or two on long balls Thursday night. All-in-all, the Spartans will give up 10 long-distance bombs again, accounting for more than half of Long Beach State’s point total.