3 bold predictions for Michigan State basketball vs. North Carolina

Saturday's matchup with No. 1 North Carolina will be more than telling for this Michigan State basketball team.

On one hand, the Spartans looked like the top-five team in the country that we all expected to start the season on Thursday in a win over Mississippi State and on the other, they still haven't proven to be consistently solid this season. They need to string games together and if that happens on Saturday night, Michigan State should be heading to the Sweet 16 for a second straight year.

Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's dive into some bold predictions for the big game.

3. Michigan State out-rebounds North Carolina

This sounds like an impossible task as North Carolina is one of the best rebounding teams in the country and Michigan State is very much in the middle of the pack, but I just have a feeling that the Spartans are starting to really figure it out on the glass.

Against Mississippi State, Michigan State won the battle of the boards and made it look relatively easy despite not being expected to take that advantage.

North Carolina is lengthy and has one of the best big men in the country in Armando Bacot who is a double-double machine so it wouldn't shock me if he grabbed somewhere in the ballpark of 12-13 rebounds, but Mady Sissoko has been playing like a man possessed on the glass lately and that will continue on Saturday.

It won't be just Mady, though, as Malik Hall, AJ Hoggard, Jaden Akins, Jaxon Kohler, and Carson Cooper will cause problems for the Tar Heels on the glass. Michigan State out-rebounds this very good rebounding UNC team by three.