The red hot no. 16 Michigan State Spartans travel to Evanston for a Sunday matchup with Northwestern, a team looking to pick up a signature win and get back on track in Big Ten play.
But a tough task awaits them as the Spartans have won 8 in a row and are coming off an impressive 90-54 win over Washington to move to 13-2 overall with a perfect 4-0 mark in conference play.
Michigan State is an extremely deep team, with ten players averaging more than 10 minutes per game this year. Jaden Akins leads the Spartans in scoring with 14.1 ppg, and is the presently the team's only player averaging double figures in scoring thanks to the Spartans' immense depth. But there's a whole lot of talent among the rest of the Spartans' ten man rotation, including Jase Richardson (9.5 ppg, 60% FGs, 46% from 3PT), playmaker Jeremy Fears Jr (7.6ppg, 6.3 apg, 41% from 3PT), and Jaxon Kohler (7.9ppg, 8.4 rpg, 46% FGs). Michigan State can beat teams in many ways, and they have plenty of guys who can step up and be the difference maker in a given game.
On the other end, Northwestern is led by the dynamic duo of Nick Martinelli (19.4 ppg) and Brooks Barnhizer (19.3 ppg), who lead the Wildcats in scoring and have All-Big Ten potential. Alongside this duo, veteran Jalen Leach (13.5 ppg) is also averaging double figures this year, and has become one of the Wildcats' top scoring options.
The Welsh-Ryan Arena has been an extremely tough venue for opposing teams in recent years, highlighted by Northwestern upsetting then no. 1 ranked Purdue in back to back years, along with several other top 25 teams having the same fate. This year, Northwestern has a perfect 8-0 record in their home building, including an overtime win over then no. 19 Illinois.
However, outside of their win over Illinois, the Wildcats yet to win another Big Ten game this year or pick up another true resume-building win, though they've come painfully close. Northwestern has already had multiple brutal losses this year, including a loss on a buzzer beating 3-pointer at Iowa, a potential Brooks Barnhizer go-ahead 3-pointer being waved off versus Butler, and a game tying-goaltend call at Penn State being reversed.
As things stand, the Wildcats find themselves on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble, and they have work to do should they want to reach the Big Dance for the third consecutive year. A home win versus Michigan State would be a huge resume booster for Northwestern, as it would give them their second top 25 win of the year, and keep them firmly on the tournament bubble.
Michigan State on the other hand, already has several solid wins away from home, including a win over North Carolina in the Maui Invitational and a true road win over Ohio State. However, this has the potential to be their toughest road matchup of the season thus far, and given Michigan State has lost two of their last three games in Evanston, there's certainly upset potential.
This matchup will be a quad 1 opportunity for both teams, and someone will walk away with a resume-building win that could prove to be beneficial come March. It's hard to pick against Northwestern in their home building, regardless of who's playing. But this Michigan State team is an extremely talented, battle tested group that has already proven they can win away from home and are currently on a hot streak of their own and are showing no signs of slowing down.
This game will be a close one that comes down to the wire, but Michigan State will ultimately prevail and hand Northwestern their first home loss of the season.