Michigan State basketball vs. Green Bay tipoff: Preview analysis, prediction
•What: Michigan State vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay
•When: 5 p.m. Sunday
•Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing
•TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM
•Records/Rankings: MSU is 8-2 and ranked No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches and Associated Press polls and is also No. 6 on Graham Couch’s AP ballot. Green Bay is 6-5 and unranked.
•Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 582-227 in his 24th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Green Bay — Linc Darner is 352-169 in his 17th season as a head coach. He’s 60-52 in his fourth season with the Phoenix.
•Series: MSU leads 6-0 all-time. The teams haven’t met in 11 seasons.
Green Bay
Pos. | Name | PPG |
F (15) | Manny Patterson (6-8) | 7.7 |
F (10) | ShanQuan Hemphill (6-6) | 13.8 |
G (24) | Jevon Smith (6-4) | 4.3 |
G (2) | PJ Pipes (6-2) | 7.3 |
G (1) | Sandy Cohen (6-2) | 15.1 |
MSU
Pos. | Name | PPG |
C (23) | Nick Ward (6-8) | 15.6 |
F (25) | Kenny Goins (6-7) | 6.6 |
G (0) | Kyle Ahrens (6-6) | 5.9 |
G (1) | Joshua Langford (6-5) | 16.7 |
G (5) | Cassius Winston (6-0) | 16.1 |
•Green Bay update: This is a tough turnaround for the Phoenix, who 42 hours before tipoff finished off an 86-65 loss at Creighton on Friday night in Omaha, Nebraska. Two of Green Bay’s six wins came against lower-division schools. The Phoenix also have wins over Eastern Washington, Morehead State, Northern Illinois and Belmont, which is their best win of the season. They were also relatively competitive in losses at Iowa and Oregon, losing both games by 11 points. Even Friday’s 21-point loss at Creighton was a four-point game midway through the second half. Much of Green Bay’s playing rotation this season is comprised of junior-college and four-year college transfers.
•MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a seven-day break for final exams, following a 63-59 win at Florida. MSU has three games to fine-tune itself before heading into the crux of the Big Ten season on Jan. 2. Games against Green Bay (Sunday), Oakland (Friday) and Northern Illinois (Dec. 29) provide Tom Izzo a chance to work his freshman class into the playing group and decide which of them are ready to be regulars in January. Right now, only Aaron Henry is playing meaningful minutes in competitive games when Izzo has a choice. It’ll be tough for players like Gabe Brown, Marcus Bingham Jr. and Thomas Kithier to find consistent roles in the rotation, given the players in front of them. But all eyes will be on freshman point guard Foster Loyer to see whether he can secure the backup point guard job that thus far has eluded him.
•About the matchup: Green Bay averages more than nine steals per game, but from what I saw Friday night against Creighton, that aggressive defense leaves shooters open and lanes open. That’s a bad deal for the Phoenix in this matchup. MSU moves the ball better than anyone in the Big Ten, averaging more than 19 assists per game. This is a fairly deep Green Bay team without much high-end stardom and just average length. Point guard Sandy Cohen, a Marquette transfer, is averaging better than 15 points and 5 assists per game. Junior-college transfer JayQuan McCloud is a knock-down outside shooter and is averaging close to 14 points per game off the bench.
•Prediction: The Phoenix have enough seasoned college players and skill to hang around for a while in the right situation. Hard to tell if this is it and whether they’ll have the legs to stick with MSU after playing on the road Friday night.
•Make it: MSU 85, Green Bay 67
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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.