Michigan State basketball should have field day vs. Charleston Southern
Michigan State basketball is in search of its third win of the young season and it should come against Charleston Southern on Monday night.
Bouncing back from a season-opening loss to Kentucky would be important for Tom Izzo and the Michigan State basketball team in order to prove that they weren’t just a disappointment trending toward a letdown season. The Spartans did just that with a 53-point win over Binghamton and a monster road victory against No. 12 Seton Hall.
Michigan State still somehow got jumped by Louisville in the AP Top 25 this week, staying at No. 3. But the fact of the matter is this: the Spartans bounced back in a big way.
Charleston Southern, on the other hand, is just 1-3 on the season with a lone victory over Columbia International. The Buccaneers have lost to North Carolina A&T, Furman and Dayton all by double figures this season and that just goes to show Monday’s game could get ugly.
The Spartans should have no problem dismantling the Buccaneers on Monday evening at the Breslin Center, especially since they’ve been out-scored, on average, 79-64 this season. Michigan State, on the other hand, is out-scoring opponents 79-63 and it has played Seton Hall and Kentucky — and that’s with the Spartans shooting poorly.
Here’s how you can watch Monday night’s game:
Date: Monday, Nov. 18
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: East Lansing, Mich.
Venue: Breslin Center
TV: Big Ten Network
Live Stream: FOX Sports Go
Keys to Victory
Getting off to a fast start will be important because these are the teams you don’t need to let hang around for longer than they should. The Spartans should be ahead by double-digits by the 10-12 minute mark of the first half, at least, and then just continue to build on that. How do the Spartans do it? By taking care of the basketball and getting Cassius Winston involved heavily.
On the defensive end, force Charleston Southern into low-percentage shots. That seems like just about everything for the Buccaneers as they’re shooting only 40 percent on the season, but make them take longer shots and nothing easy inside. The Spartan bigs will have to step up and put that tough Seton Hall game behind them.
Betting Odds
Courtesy of The Action Network
Line: Michigan State -34
Over/Under: 141.5
dark. Next. 3 takeaways from big-time win at Seton Hall
Prediction
Michigan State is going to have a big game offensively here. Actually, the Spartans are going to dominate on both ends. You have to realize that Charleston Southern has scored less than 50 points twice this season. Expect to see a big bounce-back game from Xavier Tillman and some Marcus Bingham Jr. thrown in there after being relatively absent at Seton Hall. Cassius will once again do Cassius things and the Spartans will finish with less than 10 turnovers.
Final Score: Charleston Southern 48, Michigan State 88