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Michigan State Basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. red-hot Wisconsin

By Connor Muldowney

EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after making a three-point shot during the second half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Breslin Center on January 9, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI - JANUARY 09: Cassius Winston #5 of the Michigan State Spartans celebrates after making a three-point shot during the second half of the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Breslin Center on January 9, 2020 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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Wisconsin is arguably the hottest team in the Big Ten and the Badgers come to town to face Michigan State basketball. Who prevails in this Friday night duel?

Michigan State needed a wake-up call. No, the Spartans weren’t playing bad at all, but they may have been in one of those “fat and sassy” modes as Tom Izzo likes to call it. That’s when they’re winning and beating good teams and they get caught looking against an opponent they probably should have taken care of.

That’s what happened at Mackey Arena last Sunday as the Spartans were run out of the gym against an average Purdue team, 71-42. It wasn’t pretty any way you slice it, but the five days off has given this team some time to watch film, fix mistakes and get back on track.

A red-hot Wisconsin team comes to town on Friday night, though, as the Badgers are tied for second in the Big Ten with a 4-2 record after beating Maryland and Penn State back-to-back. The did lose to Illinois the week before, but went on the road to beat Ohio State to kick off the new year.

No win in the Big Ten will come easy this year, and Friday’s matchup is a perfect example of that. Will the Spartans wake up and pick up a big home win?

3. Bench scores 20-plus

While they’re considered one of the deeper teams in the conference, the Spartans have had a tough time getting consistent production from the bench.

In fact, since Big Ten play revved back up in the new year, the Spartans have yet to break 20 bench points in a single game. They had 14 against Illinois, 18 versus Michigan, 10 versus Minnesota and then 17 at Purdue — thanks to Rocket Watts’ 10.

That’ll change on Friday.

The bench will step up and break 20 points for the first time in 2020 and a lot of that will be due to Rocket’s production as well as a couple of big 3-pointers from Foster Loyer. I could see Malik Hall chipping in a couple of points, too, but with Kyle Ahrens out indefinitely, expect Watts to get plenty of time and production to go along with the added minutes.

Watts will break 10 points again and the bench will show a pulse, potentially leading into the rest of conference play.

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