Thursday night’s San Jose State vs. Michigan State basketball game will be the Spartans’ final fine-tuning game before facing No. 9 Kentucky on Tuesday in the annual Champions Classic.
Michigan State will look to improve on the offensive end against the Spartans of San Jose State, and this is the perfect game to do just that. San Jose State allows 84.5 points per game and sits at 0-2 on the season with losses to Utah and UC Santa Barbara. The offense should bounce back in a big way on Thursday night and gain some confidence.
Now, it’s time to get bold ahead of the third game of the season.
1. Jeremy Fears Jr. bounces back in a big way
Against Arkansas last Saturday, Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with just four points on 0-for-7 shooting from the floor. He was 4-for-6 from the free throw line which accounted for all of his points, but he looked a little off offensively. He was missing jumpers, missing layups, and he’d even tell you that the two misses at the line were unacceptable.
On Thursday night, though, he’s going to bounce back in a big way with a double-double.
I feel like I predict a double-double from Fears too often, but I’m not making that the lone prediction. I see him also finishing with four steals, four rebounds, and a 3-pointer or two. Fears will finish the game with 15 points and 11 assists.
2. Cam Ward, Jordan Scott combine for at least 20 and 15
Cam Ward and Jordan Scott combined for 24 points and 17 rebounds against Arkansas, and I think the freshman duo proves that performance wasn’t an extreme outlier, combining for at least 20 points and 15 rebounds again.
Ward will finish with 12 points and eight rebounds while Scott adds eight points and seven boards.
These two are going to be massive pieces to the puzzle this season. Michigan State isn’t going to effectively defend its Big Ten title without Scott and Ward.
3. MSU shows life from 3-point range
On the season, Michigan State is shooting 20 percent (7-for-35) from deep, and that’s just not going to cut it if the Spartans want to contend for another Big Ten title and a Final Four run.
After hitting just one three against Arkansas, I think Tom Izzo has the Spartans ready to fire from long-range on Thursday night. I don’t think Michigan State is going to shoot 30-plus threes, but I do think we’ll see the Spartans make nearly 50 percent of their attempts, going 9-for-21 from deep.
That will lead to Michigan State just covering the spread, improving to 3-0.