The month of January is coming to a close, and that only means one thing for Michigan State basketball: the schedule is only heating up from here.
The Spartans have taken care of six straight Big Ten opponents, and they’ll look to beat a seventh in a row by double figures, but Rutgers is never an easy win at Jersey Mike’s Arena. The Scarlet Knights are having a really bad season under Steve Pikiell, but they’re never truly pushovers on their own floor.
Michigan State might get caught looking ahead to Michigan on Friday, but Tom Izzo won’t allow that.
Let’s get bold.
1. Jaxon Kohler puts up a career-high
I don’t know what’s speaking to me, but it’s telling me that Jaxon Kohler is about to have a monster game against the lowly Scarlet Knights. Maybe it’s because his first-ever breakout game was against Rutgers when he was a freshman, and he’s only scored a few baskets against the Scarlet Knights since then. It would be fitting that he bookends his Spartan career vs. Rutgers with another career performance.
Kohler has only scored 20 points one time this season, which is a bit surprising, but he’ll make that two on Tuesday with a career-high 25 points.
Over the three games leading up to Rutgers, Kohler has a combined 20 points. He’ll break out of his mini “slump” to top that total and dominate the Scarlet Knights. He’ll also add 11 boards.
2. Jeremy Fears puts up 15/15
Again, I don’t know where in my brain these numbers or predictions are coming from, but something is telling me that Jeremy Fears is going to follow up his 17/17 game with a 15/15 game.
Fears put up 17 points with 17 assists on Saturday against Maryland, earning co-Big Ten Player of the Week honors, and he’s going to look for back-to-back weekly recognitions from the conference as he gets off to a nice start with 15 points and 15 assists at Rutgers.
Put up 10-plus points and 10-plus assists in a winning effort against Michigan on Friday, and Fears will be a back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week.
3. Michigan State holds Rutgers to a season-low in points
If you can believe it, Rutgers’ season low for scoring has been just 54 points and when you look at the schedule of teams that the Scarlet Knights have faced (Tennessee, Purdue, Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin), you’d be shocked to know who held them to that number — it was Central Connecticut.
Well, Michigan State is going to one-up Central Connecticut, holding the Scarlet Knights to their new season-low of 51 points in yet another double-digit win.
Michigan State has the best defense in the country and it’s held back-to-back opponents under 55 points, and that will become three in a row on Tuesday night. Michigan State wins 74-51.