Michigan State Basketball: 3 keys to victory vs. Louisville in Big Ten/ACC Challenge
By Nate Rhoades
Michigan State basketball will be taking on Louisville at home in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Look for these three things in order for the Spartans to win.
The Big Ten/ACC Challenge has started this week. Michigan State basketball gets to take on the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday in East Lansing at the Breslin Center. They will look to get back on track after a tough loss to Baylor during the Battle 4 Atlantis.
In the tournament, they played well and are trying to have another strong performance in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Spartans are 8-12 in this challenge and two games have been cancelled for various reasons.
This will be the third time in the history of this challenge that the Spartans get to face off against the Lousiville Cardinals. They are 1-1 against the Cardinals in this challenge and look to be on the right side of the court when this one ends. For this to happen they are going to need to do a few things.
Lets take a look at three keys to victory over these Cardinals.
3. Win the rebounding battle
The Spartans will need to win the battle at the glass in order to win this one against a stingy Cardinal team. Tom Izzo has built a whole program around being strong on the glass and winning the rebounding battle.
In this matchup, they will have a hard time getting a rebound. The Cardinals are averaging a 42.8 rebounds while the Spartans are only averaging 41.7. Malik Williams for the Cardinals is averaging 9.8 boards a game and will give Marcus Bingham all he can handle.
This is one area where the Spartans struggled against Baylor, especially in the second half of that game. Michigan State was getting after it in the first half but they fizzled out and Baylor asserted its dominance on the glass. After MSU had a ton of second-chance opportunities in the first, they only were able to gather a couple of offensive boards in the second.
The Spartans will need to be strong on the glass in this one and win the rebounding battle if they want to win. They will have a ton of second-chance points largely in part to Bingham and Joey Hauser and those Cardinals from Lousiville will not know what hit them.