It’s hard to believe that Michigan State will have had nearly two whole weeks in between their last game in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and their upcoming first-round game in the NCAA Tournament. But that is where we are after an early Big Ten Tournament and then the brackets being revealed on Sunday.
The Spartans earned a 3-seed in what is a loaded Midwest Region. A big storyline leading up to Selection Sunday was whether or not MSU, along with their rivals from Ann Arbor, could play at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. As it turns out, Michigan State received that favorable draw close to home.
Despite grinding out some wins down the stretch in Big Ten play en route to a regular season title, the jury was still out on Michigan State on whether or not they were a true national title contender. The scoring margin through their first 24 games was nearly a full +20. Over their last nine, however, that value was chopped down to just +6.8.
Was it a blip on the radar and just a mild overreaction? Or is it a bad omen of things to come for Tom Izzo & Co. this March? We will soon find out come this Friday when Michigan State begins their tournament run against the 14-seed Bucknell Bison.
THE OPPONENT: This is the second consecutive season that Bucknell is the flag bearer for the Patriot League in the NCAA Tournament. It’s also their sixth showing in the dance in the last 15 seasons and eighth ever in their program history. The Bison do have a couple tournament wins under their belt, including a win in 2005 as a 14-seed, upsetting 3-seed Kansas in the first round.
This year’s herd of Bison has gotten it done with three of the top-10 scorers in the Patriot League. Point guard Stephen Brown is averaging just under 15 points per game and was third in the conference at 4.3 assists per contest. Much of that assisting went to the frontcourt tandem of Zach Thomas and Nana Foulland, who are virtual double-double threats every time they hit the floor.
This will be Bucknell’s second game against a Big Ten foe this season. They came up just short of downing Maryland way back in mid-November in College Park, losing 80-78.
KEY TO THE GAME: This game could very well turn into a track meet. Bucknell led their conference in shooting (47.2 FG percentage), and paced the league in field goal percentage defense at 42.3 percent, but they also allowed nearly 200 more shot attempts than the next closest team in the Patriot League.
Tom Izzo and Michigan State have shown over the years a willingness to get out and run up and down the floor, so this could be right in their wheelhouse. The Spartans are the only team in the country this year to rank in the top-10 in both field goal percentage (50.4) and field goal percentage defense (36.6). MSU also allowed north of 2,000 field goal attempts this year, ranking third in the Big Ten in that department.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Point guard Cassius Winston has really taken big strides from his freshman year to this season as a sophomore, seeing considerable upticks across the board in his numbers. The Big Ten’s leading assist man earned third-team all-conference honors this season and perhaps made the biggest jump as a sharp-shooter, shooting better than 50 percent from downtown and nearly 90 percent from the free throw line.
Michigan State will be hoping that Winston will find his groove again from deep come Friday. In the team’s two conference tournament games, he scored 28 points combined but was just 1/11 from outside. That came after a scorching stretch of shooting 16/20 over the four games prior.
Winston ultimately shot around his season average around those six games, but look for him to make one or two big shots early to get MSU going.
- TIP-OFF: Friday, March 16
- TIME: 7:10 p.m. ET
- TV/RADIO: CBS | Spartan Sports Network
