3 Michigan State players who are crucial vs. UConn in the Sweet 16

Michigan State reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for the 17th time during head coach Tom Izzo’s tenure. After beating No. 6 Louisville 77-69 on Saturday, the Spartans look forward to their next opportunity to move closer to a national championship against No. 2 UConn.

A number of Spartans stepped up in their game against the Cardinals, but it will take the whole team playing their best brand of basketball to leave Washington D.C. with a victory.

Here are three players who are crucial to MSU’s success against UConn.

Trey Fort, SG

After a 12-point performance, the sixth-year senior is playing the best basketball of his career. Trey Fort has averaged 4.2 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game while playing 10.3 minutes per game this season.

Besides the obvious stats, Fort has shot the ball at a pretty impressive percentage — 34.6% from three, 35.2% from the field and an astounding 93.8% from the free-throw line. These are all of course numbers that everyone will keep track of when Fort checks into the game off of the bench. Plus, with his leadership and experience at the division one level, Fort could be the secret weapon the Spartans have been searching for all season long.

Coen Carr, SF

Call me crazy, but Coen Carr has to play at the level he did against Louisville for the rest of March if MSU wants to make it far. The junior scored a team-high 21 points, hit two 3-point shots, all while adding on 10 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Carr will be the most likely matchup for the green and white against Alex Karaban.  was UConn’s leading scorer against UCLA with 27 points, and could dominate the same way against Michigan State.

Not only will the Spartans be counting on Carr to play as good as he did on the offensive side of the ball against Louisville, but also play as aggressive as he did as well.

Jesse McCulloch, C

This one is the one that most likely will not be on your own list. Jesse McCulloch only averages 7.4 minutes per game, but as we have all seen before this season, he can play pretty good defense against big men on opposing teams.

Tarris Reed is the man we are talking about here. Reed has averaged over five offensive rebounds a game the last three times out for UConn, and has a dominating presence inside the paint. Earlier this season, McCulloch played really well against Michigan’s Aday Mara when the Wolverines were in East Lansing.

Michigan State will need that same effort of play against UConn this upcoming weekend.