Michigan State Basketball: 5 reasons Spartans will beat red-hot Nebraska

It’s not going to be easy, but Michigan State basketball will look to earn an impressive road win at Nebraska. Here’s why the Spartans will win.

It’s been two years since the Spartans traveled to Lincoln to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the hardwood and they were able to come away with a big win to keep them in the NCAA Tournament hunt.

This time around, Michigan State is looking to improve to 7-0 in Big Ten play and 16-2 overall with a win and keep pace with in-state rival Michigan atop the conference standings. The scenarios may be different, but Michigan State needs a win just as badly.

Here’s why the Spartans will find a way to beat the Cornhuskers on Thursday.

5. Depth will wear Nebraska down

The Spartans may be without Josh Langford, but that hasn’t meant much in the past four games. Michigan State is 4-0 without its third-leading scorer and Tom Izzo has gotten his team to believe in the “next man up” mantra. Without Langford, the team has relied upon Kyle Ahrens, Aaron Henry and Matt McQuaid and that depth will be key in this one.

Michigan State can play a 10-11 players on any given night and even without Langford, and potentially Ahrens, the Spartans will be 9-10 deep.

If Ahrens is out, that means Henry will start for the second straight game and he did a solid job the first time around. Xavier Tillman, Gabe Brown and Foster Loyer will all come off the bench in relief and we may even see some Thomas Kithier or Marcus Bingham Jr. just go give the bigs a rest. The depth is what sets this Michigan State team apart.

Nebraska may not be able to match that. The Cornhuskers have just eight guys who have played in at least 15 games and just five who average over 15 minutes. They can run 8-9 deep on a good night, but the Spartans should be able to wear them down.

Depth will play a key role in this one. Advantage: Spartans.