Michigan State will be in West Lafayette on Thursday night for a top-15 battle against the Purdue Boilermakers. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they haven’t won at Mackey Arena since Gary Harris and Adriean Payne were leading the way.
The Spartans are coming off kind of a clunker of a win over Ohio State at the Breslin Center on Sunday and Purdue is fresh off the dismantling of in-state rival Indiana by 29 points.
The vibe surrounding the two programs is a little different after those two games, but Michigan State is still 22-5 on the season and ranked No. 13 in the country. This is a team that can, and will, give Purdue a tough time. It’s also a team that can make a Final Four push. It’s no slouch.
Here’s what I’d like to see from the 22-5 Spartans on Thursday.
1. A quick start
This was also on my keys to victory post, but a quick start is a must if Michigan State is going to pull off this road upset of the Boilermakers.
No more going down by 10-15 points in the first half and then banking on a comeback in the second half because that’s not going to fly against a team like Purdue. Michigan State must hang with Purdue in the first half and then trust Tom Izzo’s second-half adjustments to carry the Spartans to the finish line.
Michigan State holding a lead at halftime would be best-case scenario, but being within five would be great, too.
2. A non-ghost-like Coen Carr
Squeezing all of that potential out of Coen Carr hasn’t been the easiest task for Izzo, but he knows that his junior forward can be a great player if he stays aggressive and stops shying away from being one of the go-to guys on offense. Carr can drive the lane and score with ease when he wants to, but when he’s passive, the offense struggles mightily.
Michigan State is 7-2 when Carr scores at least 15 points, proving that the Spartans are a really tough team to beat when he’s playing an aggressive form of ball.
Over the past four road games, Carr is averaging 15.4 points per game. MSU needs more of that.
3. Transition offense
Michigan State’s half-court offense has left a lot to be desired, so it’ll be up to the transition game to kind of carry the load on that end of the floor. If Michigan State gets taken out of its game and is forced to slow things down, it’s going to struggle. When it gets out and runs and has success in transition, Michigan State is almost unbeatable.
The transition offense needs to be really good if Michigan State wants to pull this one off.