Lots of drama and excitement surrounding this one
The Indiana Hoosiers come to Breslin Center tomorrow for a 9 PM tip (streaming on Peacock). Both the Hoosiers and Spartans will bring a lot of questions, drama, and excitement to this one.
Let’s talk about our Spartans first. Most importantly, MSU remains in the thick of the Big Ten race with Purdue and Michigan after righting the ship in the second half against Oregon on Saturday. The Spartans and Wolverines, at 10-2, sit a half game back of Purdue. The Boilermakers and Michigan are both on four game winning streaks but that will change Tuesday when the teams tip off in Ann Arbor. It will be crucial for the Spartans to pick up this win at home before traveling to Illinois next weekend and with games ahead against Purdue and UM.
Making history will also be a big theme tomorrow. After tying him on Saturday, Tom Izzo now has a chance to claim the all time Big Ten wins record from Bob Knight on Tuesday and, ironically, that chance will come against Knight’s former team. Izzo has largely downplayed this record and tried to deflect credit to his players – past and present – for getting him to this point. He also never hid his admiration and respect for the controversial Knight who, Izzo said in his post game presser on Saturday, “had always been good to me.”
However, watching Izzo after the game on Saturday with Jase Richardson, his former players, and talking to the Breslin Center crowd, it certainly seems like this means something to him. Or, perhaps more importantly, to Michigan State. It may have been just the thrill of seeing his team respond to adversity, dominate the second half against Oregon, and show what this team is truly capable of, but I’m also guessing that this mark in history belonging to MSU means a lot to Izzo.
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What will also be interesting to watch is what, if any, changes Izzo makes to his starting lineup on Tuesday. Will Jeremy Fears be back well enough to play? Will Jaden Akins, who battled through illness on Saturday, get better or worse before Tuesday? Will Xavier Booker be able to play and will anyone else get sick before tip off?
After his performance on Saturday, and really throughout the year, there is strong speculation – and belief – that Richardson will move into the starting lineup. If he does, will he replace Fears or Tre Holloman? MSU turned to Richardson playing the point in the second half against Oregon with Holloman mostly playing off the ball but it wasn’t all the time. Izzo said they went back to Holloman at the one at certain points in the game.
One of our readers, Woolly Bugger , made the point that Richardson almost always gets a shot off when he drives to the lane and, even if it’s a miss, can lead to an offensive rebound while Fears sometimes has to stop in the lane and look to kick it back out. Fears and Holloman, however, average more assists than Richardson but, in Fears case at least, he’s been expected to do that by playing almost exclusively at the one all year.
It might also be reasonable to wonder if Carson Cooper with his excellent defense, strong rebounding, and vastly improved free throw shooting should replace Syzmon Zapala in the starting lineup. I don’t think Izzo was asked about this possibility after the game on Saturday but when asked about the point guard position, he said “there’s no quarterback controversy here.” Izzo did say he expected to use the same 10 player rotation the Spartans have employed all year but minutes could go up or down based on performance.
This is pure speculation but I think any lineup changes will be dictated by team health like they were against Oregon. I don’t think Izzo will change his starting five unless injury or illness keeps someone out again.
Let’s take a look at Indiana now. It was recently announced that head coach Mike Woodson won’t return to the Hoosiers bench after this season. Indiana has struggled to meet their own high expectations since Knight was fired prior to the 2000-01 season and Woodson’s tenure has continued that trend. In his third season in Bloomington, Woodson is 77-50 overall and 36-37 in the Big Ten coming into this game with MSU.
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Early speculation has focused on Michigan head coach Dusty May replacing Woodson. May was a student manager for Knight so he provides a link to the successful past that the IU faithful are desperate to experience again. May took Florida Atlantic to the Final Four in 2023 and has Michigan in the running for a Big Ten championship in his first year in Ann Arbor after the Juwan Howard regime petered out last year.
Would May really leave Michigan after a year to go to IU and would his buyout at UM make that move cost prohibitive? These are probably questions for down the road and better left to other sites. But the effect that all of this has on the current Hoosier team will be interesting. Will Indiana rally around Woodson? Or will players be distracted by looking to the future and the inevitability of the transfer portal for at least some of them?
Indiana comes in at 14-10 overall and 5-8 in the conference. They have dropped five in a row, including Saturday at home against Michigan. In that game, Indiana fell behind by double digits, battled back, but ultimately fell 70-67. Indiana’s last win was probably their most impressive – a 77-76 triumph in overtime at Ohio State back on January 17.
For a 14-10 team, the Hoosiers certainly have a lot of talent. They are led by Oumar Ballo with 13.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Ballo is a 7’-0” 265 center from Mali. He started his college career at Gonzaga before transferring to Arizona for three years. He was a first team all conference and all defensive team player in the Pac 12 last year.
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Mackenzie Mgbako, Malik Reneau, and Myles Rice also score in double figures for the Hoosiers. Mgbako is a 6’-9” sophomore forward who was the Big Ten co-freshman of the year as voted by the league’s coaches last year.
Reneau is also a 6’-9” forward who was honorable mention All Big Ten last year while point guard Rice is a redshirt sophomore transfer from Washington State. Last year, Rice was named to the national freshman All-American team, voted Pac 12 freshman of the year, and made the All Pac 12 first team at WSU.
Still, the Hoosiers have yet to hit their stride this year. They don’t shoot it particularly well, hitting 43.5% from the floor, 32.2% from three, and only 69.7% at the line in Big Ten play. They rank 12th in the league at 73.4 points per game in conference games while giving up 77.4. The Spartans, on the other hand, have outscored Big Ten opponents 791. – 66.9.
It will be hard to top Saturday’s atmosphere in the Breslin Center with the 2000 national championship team in attendance, a national TV audience, and perhaps the best half of Spartan basketball we’ve seen so far. Still, the Spartans and the Breslin crowd will no doubt recognize the significance of this one and be up for it regardless of who starts or how Izzo decides to distribute the minutes.