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Michigan State Basketball: Early non-conference game predictions for 2019-20

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans is defended by Javin DeLaurier #12 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Xavier Tillman #23 of the Michigan State Spartans is defended by Javin DeLaurier #12 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half in the East Regional game of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – MARCH 29: PJ Washington #25 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates with teammates after defeating the Houston Cougars 62-58 during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – MARCH 29: PJ Washington #25 of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrates with teammates after defeating the Houston Cougars 62-58 during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The non-conference schedule isn’t complete yet for Michigan State Basketball but with the priority games known, here’s an early set of predictions for them.

It’s never too early to breakdown the Spartans biggest games coming up in non-conference play to start the 2019-2020 season. Nearly every major publication has Michigan State Basketball as the preseason #1 team heading into the upcoming season. It can be argued that this may be the most difficult non-conference slate in years. Let’s take a look at the most important non-conference games for the Spartans.

Kentucky

Date: November 5th:

Champions Classic

Place: (New York, New York)

According to SI.com, it will be the Showdown of #1 vs. #2. Even though Kentucky lost four starters from last season’s team who left early for the NBA,  EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards decided to return to Lexington after earlier testing the NBA Draft waters before withdrawing their names. As usual, the Wildcats bring in highly touted recruits and in this case, 5-star rated Tyrese Maxey and Kahlil Whitney are bringing their talents to big blue nation.

Johnny Juzang another highly rated incoming freshmen look to challenge the veteran Spartans. The Wildcats after last season provided depth by adding graduate transfer Nate Sestina from Bucknell. Montgomery and Richards are not the only players returning with experience as lockdown defender Ashton Hagans returns as well. Kentucky will have a good balance of veteran players as well as talented freshmen for this upcoming season.

All eyes will be on this game as the strong possibility of this being a #1 versus #2 matchup when the official preseason AP and Coaches Polls come out. The Spartans are loaded and with as some college experts having Cassius Winston as #1 player in college basketball, the Spartans will be a little too much for the Wildcats to handle in a high paced game. Michigan State brings a ton of talent and leadership from last season’s Final Four team along with two top-100 recruits in freshmen Rocket Watts and Malik Hall. Expect this to be a very exciting game with a ton of future NBA talent on the court.

Prediction: Michigan State 89 Kentucky 81