Following a big win over Rutgers on Saturday afternoon in New York City, Michigan State basketball will take the floor again on Tuesday night to face a much-improved Minnesota team.
Back in December, Michigan State dominated the Golden Gophers by 18 points on the road and it was a relatively stress-free victory. This time around, it might seem like Michigan State is an easy home favorite and should win another stress-free game, but the Gophers have been playing much better as of late, winning three straight games.
And those three wins were against solid teams like Michigan, Iowa, and Oregon.
Michigan State will have its hands full on Tuesday night with Dawson Garcia and the Gophers. It's time to get bold.
1. Jase Richardson scores 20 again
The Spartan who has been arguably the biggest surprise this season has been Jase Richardson. The freshman guard, and son of MSU legend Jason Richardson, has exceeded all expectations, becoming a 22-minute-per-game player in year one which is actually unheard of under Tom Izzo.
Not only is he playing about 22 minutes per game, but he's dominating. In fact, he's fresh off his best performance as a Spartan on Saturday, scoring a career-high 20 points against Rutgers.
We're going to see him one-up that game on Tuesday, scoring 22 points against Minnesota and pushing his season average over 10 points per game. He'll hit a couple of threes early and just keep this Minnesota defense on its heels for 40 minutes as he puts up a career-high in the points category.
Richardson's NBA draft stock is soaring right now.