The outside noise has been deafening for Michigan State basketball players over the past week. Since losing to Michigan at home last Friday, Michigan State has lost another contest to a 10-12 Minnesota team on the road, dropping to 19-4 on the season after a record-tying start.
Now, the Spartans will face their second top-five opponent in three games, hosting No. 5 Illinois on Saturday evening at the Breslin Center. The environment should be electric.
Let’s get bold ahead of a must-win on Saturday.
1. Jeremy Fears silences haters with 20/10 game
The Jeremy Fears discourse has officially spiraled out of control, and the sophomore point guard has to be tired of being “dirty” by people who just watched him play for the first time a week ago. It’s been kind of ridiculous to watch him get compared to Grayson Allen and Brad Davison, but that’s the kind of treatment he’s been getting.
Tom Izzo had a “come to Jesus” meeting with him after Wednesday’s game, and I would bet that has set him straight and he can focus on his game and not the extracurricular stuff moving forward.
I think we’re going to see a more free Fears, scoring 20-plus with 10 assists as one of his best career games on his way to becoming an All-American.
2. Trey Fort scores 10-plus again
All aboard the Trey Fort hype train. The senior transfer from Samford has had an up-and-down season with Michigan State, but with the injury to Divine Ugochukwu, there’s going to be more playing time coming his way — especially with how he finished the Minnesota game.
Fort is going to see about 20 minutes on Saturday night, and he’s going to be that secret weapon that Spartan fans hoped he would be when he committed to Michigan State.
Fort hasn’t had back-to-back double-digit scoring games all season, but that changes on Saturday night as he drops 14 points with three big 3-pointers. The confidence is back.
3. Michigan State gets off to a quick start, covers
The criticism headed Michigan State’s way lately has been heavy. The Spartans lost to Michigan which really started the disrespect, and then they lost at Minnesota in one of their worst games in years, amplifying the hate that they’ve been getting.
The Spartans know that they need to stop the skid on Saturday night against Illinois or else it could get really ugly in the coming weeks. A win over Illinois would do wonders.
We’ll see a much more motivated Michigan State team from the jump, and the Spartans will take a 10-point lead early, maintaining it throughout, and then closing strong thanks to solid perimeter defense holding the Illini in check. Michigan State is going to bounce back with a 77-68 win.
This will feel like that Maryland win about a decade ago when the Spartans were on a three-game skid and needed to beat a really good Terrapin team at home to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, there’s no Matt Costello to pick Izzo up and hug him — maybe Jaxon Kohler can assume that role.