Michigan State basketball is back.
It’s been a big week for Spartan hoops. Monday kicked off the regular season as the Spartans beat a pesky Colgate team in East Lansing, 80-69. On Wednesday, Tom Izzo and the Spartans landed four-star shooting guard Jasiah Jervis over Tennessee and NC State. And on Friday, five-star center Ethan Taylor announced a commitment date of Nov. 14.
Saturday caps off the good week of Spartan basketball, but it’ll be great if Michigan State can pull off the Top 25 win over No. 14 Arkansas.
The Razorbacks come to the Breslin Center with a familiar face at head coach as John Calipari is now leading the program after spending 15 years at Kentucky. It’s going to be weird seeing him in red and white, but he’s now in charge after taking over for Eric Musselman who left for USC.
There’s a lot to be excited about, but let’s get bold before the big game.
1. Coen Carr leads all scorers
Arkansas has its fair share of talented scorers like Darius Acuff, Trevon Brazile, and Meleek Thomas who all scored over 20 points in the team’s season-opening 109-point performance.
But Coen Carr knows that he’s going to have to be a star if the Spartans want to pull this one off.
The junior forward will be more aggressive than we’ve seen him since that Bowling Green exhibition, and he’ll finish with at least 20 points and eight rebounds, leading all scorers on Saturday night.
2. Jeremy Fears Jr. records another double-double
Jeremy Fears Jr. had a double-double in the season opener against Colgate, and he’s going to record a second straight on Saturday night. This will be more impressive considering the Razorbacks have one of the best backcourts in the country.
Fears is going to out-duel Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas on Saturday night, finishing with 16 points and 11 assists in a huge follow-up performance.
3. Free throws seal the win for MSU
Michigan State has been awful at the charity stripe through two exhibition games and the season opener, which has been shocking, but it’s unfortunately a troubling trend.
My guess is that Izzo had them shooting hundreds of free throws throughout the week before, during, and after practice to make up for the 13 misses against Colgate and 15 misses at UConn. That’s going to pay off with visible improvement on Saturday night.
Michigan State will hold on for a huge Top 25 win and it’ll be due to some really solid free throw shooting, making about 80 percent from the line and coming up clutch down the stretch. Michigan State wins 74-71.