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Michigan State Basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. No. 9 Purdue in BTT semifinals

By Connor Muldowney

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 11: (L-R) Tyson Walker #2, Max Christie #5, A.J. Hoggard #11, Malik Hall #25, and Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans walk up the court during the second half of a Men's Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 11, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Michigan State Spartans won the game 69-63. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 11: (L-R) Tyson Walker #2, Max Christie #5, A.J. Hoggard #11, Malik Hall #25, and Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans walk up the court during the second half of a Men's Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on March 11, 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Michigan State Spartans won the game 69-63. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State basketball picked up a huge win over Wisconsin on Friday to advance to the Big Ten tourney semifinals against Purdue.

Right when we were about to count Michigan State basketball out in March, the Spartans go out and beat Maryland a couple of times and then come up clutch to down No. 12 Wisconsin.

With this recent three-game winning streak, Michigan State is headed to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals against No. 9 Purdue which is a rematch of a February battle in which the Spartans got the best of the Boilermakers. They had the perfect game plan for Purdue then, but will that happen again on Saturday?

Michigan State has some newfound confidence, but does that mean it will be able to beat its second straight top-15 opponent and earn a trip to the conference tourney championship?

Let’s get bold ahead of Saturday’s big matchup.

3. MSU’s defense frustrates Jaden Ivey

Michigan State had the perfect game plan in the first meeting with Purdue a few weeks ago and it drew up another perfect plan for Johnny Davis on Friday night. Tom Izzo is a master game-planner when his team buys in and they’ll be ready for Jaden Ivey on Saturday afternoon, suffocating him from start to finish and holding him to under 40 percent shooting.

Like Davis, Ivey will find it difficult to get open shots and he’ll be the subject of double-teams all afternoon long, especially when driving the lane. Help-side defense will come up big.

In the first meeting, Ivey had 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting but he’ll probably take 13-14 shots on Saturday and make around five again. He may get his points, but he won’t be efficient and he’ll be just as frustrated as Davis was against Max Christie.

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