Michigan State Basketball: 3 bold predictions for battle with No. 3 Kansas

Tom Izzo and the Spartans are headed to New York for one of the most important season openers in years. Michigan State basketball always partakes in the annual Champions Classic, but this year is different because no one is giving the Spartans much respect.

Bill Self and the Jayhawks, on the other hand, are ranked No. 3 in the country and everyone believes they’re going to be in the national title conversation all year.

But they’ll be without a key player in Jalen Wilson who has been suspended for the first four games and that could be a prime opportunity for Michigan State to rise up and shock the nation.

Will the Spartans take down the No. 3 Jayhawks on Tuesday night?

3. MSU wins the turnover, rebounding battles

If there’s one area that I wish Michigan State would improve upon year to year but it always seems like an issue, it’s the turnover battle.

The Spartans always seem to be on the wrong end of the turnover battle, but that’s not going to be the case against the Jayhawks on Tuesday night. The Jayhawks averaged over 12 turnovers per game last season and I think they’ll have somewhere in the ballpark of 13-15 on Tuesday night while the Spartans will be somewhere around 10.

Not only that, but Michigan State will also win the rebounding battle which is impressive given the fact that David McCormack and Christian Braun each averaged over five last year. Not having Jalen Wilson is going to hurt Kansas in this regard, however.

Marcus Bingham Jr. is going to have over 10 boards and the Spartans are going to get back to the old-school days of aggressively crashing the glass to beat Kansas here.