After coming back from down 14 at halftime to beat Oregon on Saturday, Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo tied Bob Knight's Big Ten wins record at 353. That set up for a fitting record-breaking opportunity against Knight's old team, Indiana, on Tuesday night.
The Spartans needed a huge second half to set Izzo up to break the Big Ten wins record against Indiana but that's the situation they're in heading into Tuesday's game.
Michigan State is looking for win No. 20 as well as Izzo's record-breaker on Tuesday night against Indiana in East Lansing. Will the Spartans secure the victory? Let's get bold.
1. Jase Richardson scores 20 again
Will Jase Richardson play 35 minutes again? I doubt that given the fact that Jeremy Fears should be back and the offense won't need him to play that much, but it might be difficult for Izzo to keep him off the floor.
After scoring a career-high 29 on Saturday, Richardson is going to follow up with another 20-plus point performance on Tuesday as the newfound go-to scorer, leading the offense again.
We might be able to expect 15-plus per game from Richardson moving forward.
2. MSU shoots over 50 percent from deep
Michigan State has been one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the Big Ten this season but the Spartans perked up a bit against Oregon and I can see that continuing on Tuesday.
With Jeremy Fears and Xavier Booker likely back, the offense should have more weapons and an added shooter to work with. Fears is going to find open guys consistently as Indiana has been struggling all year on the defensive end and they're going to hit over 50 percent of their shots from distance on Tuesday night.
I'm predicting an 11-for-21 finish on the night.
3. MSU scores over 85 again, Tom Izzo breaks the record
Michigan State was held in check on the offensive end for a few games before going off for 86 against Oregon thanks to a massive second half. In fact, following the 81-point performance against Rutgers at Madison Square Garden, Michigan State was held to 73 or less in three straight games before beating Oregon 86-74.
Now the offense has a go-to scorer and it gets Jeremy Fears and Xavier Booker back (more than likely) so things should run much smoother.
The offense will stay hot against the Hoosiers, scoring over 85 points for a second straight game, beating the Hoosiers by double digits and getting Izzo to Big Ten win No. 354.