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Michigan State Basketball: 5 bold predictions vs. Minnesota in Week 15

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 10: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans handles the ball while defended by P.J. Thompson #11 of the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on February 10, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - FEBRUARY 10: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans handles the ball while defended by P.J. Thompson #11 of the Purdue Boilermakers at Breslin Center on February 10, 2018 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State is coming off its biggest win of the season, but can the Spartans continue their winning streak against Minnesota on Tuesday night?

Tuesday night presents a unique opportunity for the Spartans. Not only can they improve to 13-2 in Big Ten play, hoping for a Penn State upset of Ohio State as well, but Michigan State can record its best start in school history with a win.

No team has ever started 25-3 and the last team to begin the year 24-3 was the 2000-01 team which lost in the Final Four.

Minnesota isn’t going to roll over, though. Even though the Gophers are likely out of the NCAA Tournament picture after beginning the year in the AP Top 25, they’d love nothing more than to pull off a massive upset of the Big Ten’s highest-ranked team.

It’s time to get bold heading into Tuesday night’s game against Minnesota.

5. Spartans struggle to stop Nate Mason

There’s always that one player who gives Michigan State a battle each game, and this time out, it’ll be Nate Mason. The senior point guard has been on a roll lately, averaging 21.2 points and 4.2 assists per game over the last five. That will continue on Tuesday night.

Cassius Winston played much better defense against Purdue than he had in the previous string of contests, but Mason is a completely different animal than P.J. Thompson.

Although he made just 6-of-20 shots against Indiana in a blowout loss last week, Mason was effective enough to score 18 points and grab eight rebounds. He’ll bounce back to scored at least 20 against Michigan State, draining 4-of-7 shots from deep as well.

The Spartans will need a strong performance from Winston on the offensive end to counter Mason’s production.

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