Michigan State basketball takes the floor on Thursday night, folks. Try to contain that excitement.
With the football season slowly spiraling down the drain after four straight losses, Tom Izzo and the Spartans are trying to save everyone’s mental health with their return on Thursday for an exhibition opener against Tum Tum Nairn and Bowlign Green.
If you remember anything about last year’s matchup with Bowling Green, you’d know that the Spartans had a nightmare of a time trying to avoid an upset in East Lansing. Bowling Green gave Michigan State all it could handle, and it took a second-half comeback to secure the win for the Spartans. Let’s hope we don’t have a repeat of that.
Bowling Green is back in town for a preseason battle, and there are some interesting storylines to follow if you’re a Michigan State fan.
1. Trey Fort or Kur Teng?
There’s been a lot of talk during the preseason about the starting 2-guard spot. Will it be the veteran transfer from Samford, Trey Fort, or rather the second-year player who has been touted as the team’s best pure shooter in Kur Teng?
We’ll see who’s leading the battle to start on Thursday night. I’m going to guess that Fort gets the start, but if his defense suffers, we’ll see more of Teng in the rotation.
Both guys bring a lot to the table and you can’t really go wrong with either one, but it’ll be interesting to see if Fort’s defensive struggles that have been whispered about in the preseason continue.
2. Three-point shooting
Last season, Michigan State was one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the Big Ten. The Spartans had no shortage of shooters, but all of them seemingly struggled at the same time.
Tre Holloman, Jaden Akins, and Jase Richardson are gone, which could hurt the shooting prowess, but Fort, Teng, and improvements from Jeremy Fears Jr., Carson Cooper, Coen Carr, and Jaxon Kohler should help matters. Add in someone like Jordan Scott who could come in and give the offense a shot in the arm, and you have some decent shooters.
Michigan State needs to improve in this area, and that starts on Thursday night.
3. Is the chemistry there?
Izzo has said on numerous occasions that the team chemistry a season ago was about as good as it could be. The Spartans cared about winning and didn’t worry about personal stats or accolades, and that’s what made the team so special. It’s why the Spartans ran away with the Big Ten title.
Now, most of those guys are gone, and returning from last year’s team are Fears, Carr, Kohler, Cooper, Teng, and Jesse McCulloch. They’ll be adding in four transfers and two freshmen. Will things change?
Obviously there will be some changes, but as long as the chemistry remains intact, Michigan State should be just fine. We’ll know fairly early on against Bowling Green if the chemistry is where it needs to be, or if these guys just need more time together.
Chemistry is the key to success this year.