The first true road game of the 2025-26 season is upon us, and Michigan State basketball will need to stay focused on a Penn State team that hasn’t exactly been impressive this season.
Still, a Big Ten road game is a Big Ten road game — there are no easy wins.
Michigan State is 8-1 on the year with a lone loss coming against an undefeated top-five Duke team by two possessions. That game slipped away from Michigan State and Jaxon Kohler even said that the team felt like they lost it more than Duke won it. That kind of mindset is going to drive this team to get better throughout the season.
Penn State, on the other hand, is 8-2 with two double-digit losses. The first came back in November against Providence, 77-65. The last double-digit loss was at Indiana earlier this week, losing by 41 points. Other than that, Penn State hasn’t really played anyone.
This will be the Nittany Lions’ toughest test yet.
Let’s get bold.
1. Jeremy Fears Jr. has a huge bounce-back
Jeremy Fears Jr. had his worst game of the season offensively against Duke, going 0-for-10 from the floor, but he did play some great defense and had 13 assists to just one turnover.
Still, he would tell you that him not making a single shot was the difference between beating Duke and losing. If you think about it, if he made 1-2 of his 10 shots, Michigan State probably would’ve had control of the game in the final minutes. That quite literally was the difference.
He won’t let that snowball into two straight poor offensive games. Fears is going to bounce back in a big way, finishing with 15 points and 12 assists while defending at an elite level with three steals.
2. Trey Fort breakout game
I just feel like we’re due for a Trey Fort breakout game, so what better place to do it than on the road against a Big Ten opponent?
Fort just got done helping the community by handing out food to those in need this week, and he deserves some good juju. He’s going to have arguably his best game of the season, making 6-of-10 shots for 14 points with some explosive dunks along the way.
The confidence will be oozing from Fort’s pores in Happy Valley.
3. Michigan State leads by double figures all game
Big Ten road games can be scary, but I just don’t think Penn State has the firepower to keep up with Michigan State. The Spartans are going to get off to a hot start, taking a 12-2 lead early before extending that into halftime to around 12-15 points.
The second half will be a lot of maintaining that comfortable lead.
Michigan State will cover the 12.5-points spread and win by closer to 20. While I think Penn State could be a little trickier of an opponent than we think, I believe Michigan State will be playing with a sense of urgency like Kohler said earlier this week after practice. This team will come out angry and motivated to win big.
I’ll go with a final score of 81-65.