A Big Ten title is attainable still for Michigan State basketball and some things need to happen (outside of wins and losses, obviously) that could ensure the Spartans snag their first crown since 2020.
After beating Illinois on the road and then Purdue, Michigan State is in a prime position to capture that title and it does have control of its own destiny for the remainder of the year.
With five Big Ten games left, Michigan State needs to likely go 3-2, at worst, in order to win the conference but outside of just the obvious wins and losses, what needs to happen in order for the Spartans to win the Big Ten title?
1. Jaxon Kohler needs to stay hot
If Michigan State wants to have a chance to beat Michigan and Maryland's two-big lineups, Jaxon Kohler is going to have to stay as hot as he's been over the past 4-5 games. In that stretch, he's averaging 11.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks while shooting 67 percent from 3-point range (6-for-9) and 62 percent from the floor.
Great teams have bigs who can put up some numbers when they need to and Kohler is slowly becoming just that for the Spartans. He stays hot, and Michigan State will be in good shape.
2. Shoot around 35 percent from deep
This one may be a lot to ask but if the percentage isn't possible, maybe just limiting the attempts from deep per game to under 15 like they have been in recent wins.
Michigan State is an average 3-point shooting percentage away from being one of the most dominant teams in the country. Just looking at the numbers, Michigan State would likely be 24-2, at least, if it could make somewhere between 35-40 percent of its threes on a regular basis.
Maybe just for the final five games, the Spartans hit that mark. If they do, there may not be a team left on the regular-season schedule that can beat them.
3. Control the tempo in every matchup
When is Michigan State basketball at its best? When it's defending, rebounding, and running. The Spartans love to push the pace and when they do (like Tuesday night against Purdue or this past Saturday at Illinois), they're incredibly difficult to beat.
If you look at the Spartans' five losses this season, they have fallen in every game in which the opposing team has controlled the pace and didn't let Michigan State get out and run.
USC held Michigan State to 64 points, UCLA held the Spartans to 61, and Indiana kept Tom Izzo's team under 70 as well. The common theme? The Spartans lost all of those games. The same could be said for the Kansas and Memphis losses, too.
If Michigan State can control the tempo against Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Iowa, the Spartans will, at the very least, come away with a 4-1 record in the final five games and win the Big Ten.