Death. Taxes. An early-to-mid February Michigan State basketball slump.
There are few things more certain than Michigan State struggling in the early stages of February every year, but this team has the leaders to get this ship righted sooner rather than later.
Jeremy Fears, Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler, and Carson Cooper are the right guys for the job, and you can never count a Tom Izzo-coached team out either. The Spartans have some serious work to do if they’re going to bounce back into 2-seed territory by the NCAA Tournament, but we can’t forget that they’re still 20-5 and one of the best teams in the country.
UCLA comes to town on Tuesday night to test the Spartans after they’ve lost three out of the past four games, but Michigan State will have some key advantages.
1. Defense
I get it, Michigan State hasn’t exactly been locking teams down lately, giving up 92, 83, 82, 79, and 76 points over the past five games, but the Spartans still have one of the nation’s best defenses.
UCLA doesn’t have a bad defense, but the Bruins aren’t on the same level as the Spartans.
This feels like one of those games where Michigan State finally buckles down defensively, feeds off the energy from the crowd, and gets right back on track after a recent skid. The home crowd will fire this team up and I’m just going to predict that the Spartans will dominate fast-break points because of their stellar defense on Tuesday night.
2. Home energy
Speaking of that home crowd, Michigan State is going to feed off that Breslin Center energy. This is something the team desperately needs after a 21-point throttling in Madison. Michigan State is 6-1 over its last seven home games with an average win margin of 17.2 points and a top-five win mixed in. That’s what you call elite home-court advantage.
Michigan State is going to welcome Xavier Booker back with open arms, but the rest of the game won’t be as kind to the former Spartan big man.
3. Glass dominance
If there’s one area in which I believe Michigan State should flat-out dominate on Tuesday night, it’s rebounding. The Spartans average over 41 boards per game and UCLA is down around 33. That large of a discrepancy usually works in Michigan State’s favor. The Bruins’ top rebounder averages just 5.6 per game. The Spartans have three guys who average at least five rebounds and five who average at least three.
I’d be willing to bet that Michigan State out-rebounds the Bruins by 10-plus.