Michigan State basketball: 5 bold predictions for January 2023
1. Michigan State wins two ranked road games
The road games that Michigan State has to play this month are brutal.
First, Michigan State heads to No. 14 Wisconsin on Jan. 10 and then three days later it will be in Champaign to play a really good Illinois team which may very well be ranked by then. The Spartans will be in Bloomington to face No. 15 Indiana on Jan. 22 and then in West Lafayette to face No. 1 Purdue at the dreaded Mackey Arena on Jan. 29.
That’s potentially four ranked road games in the month of January.
Michigan State is going to win two of them. My prediction is that the Spartans will win at Wisconsin and then turn around to beat Indiana in Bloomington on Jan. 22. Neither place is easy to win at but the Spartans are due for a couple of really solid road wins every year, at least.
I don’t see Michigan State winning in Mackey Arena because it seemingly happens once every decade and Illinois is also just a nightmare arena for Michigan State.
A 2-2 month on the road with that many ranked teams on the schedule is a successful stretch.