Michigan State basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. Niagara

Three days after opening the season with a comfortable 81-57 win over Monmouth, Michigan State basketball will be back in action for one final tune-up before facing the No. 1 team in the country on Tuesday.

The Spartans will host Niagara on Thursday night and they’re currently 29.5-point favorites and this will be a good chance for the team to conjure up some offensive momentum before going into the Champions Classic against No. 1 Kansas. Michigan State was ice-cold from deep on Monday, making just 3-of-18 attempts from three, which means that Thursday will need to yield much better results. They aren’t beating Kansas by shooting 15 percent from deep.

Niagara, on the other hand, is also 1-0 on the season after putting up 100 points in a win over Houghton in their opener. The Purple Eagles not only dropped 100 points, but they also shot 12-for-27 from deep which is good for over 40 percent. That could be a problem for this defense.

Tom Izzo will have Michigan State ready for this one, but let’s get bold.

1. Jeremy Fears follows up solid opener with double-double

Jeremy Fears Jr. had a heck of an opener for the Spartans despite scoring just three points. He took just two shots and finished with three points but he dished eight assists with just two turnovers. He’ll have more than eight assists this time around with 10 and he’ll finish scoring in double figures with 11 points.

Michigan State basketball needs him to be more of an offensive threat and I think that first game was primarily for shaking off the rust after missing 10 months of live action but now he’s only going to grow. We’ll see that on Thursday with a double-double.

2. Jaden Akins scores 20 again

What we saw from Jaden Akins in the opener was what we all had hoped for when the season began. He was supposed to be a star and lead the team in scoring but he just never really found that consistency throughout the preseason. On Monday night, he looked like the player he has the potential to be every single game and dropped 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He was also 7-for-8 from inside the arc.

How will he follow up that stellar opener? Oh, just by scoring 20-plus again.

I think we’ll see Akins get hot from deep and finish with four threes to go along with a handful of strong drives and finishes at the rim and a strong mid-range jumper or two to finish with 24 points. He’ll add six rebounds and two steals to his impressive line.

3. Michigan State shoots over 50 percent from deep

Let me just speak this one into existence. Michigan State basketball struggled mightily to start the 2023-24 season from beyond the arc and it’s why the Spartans went from top five to out of the rankings in the first few weeks of the year. They have to avoid those struggles this season early on.

After going 3-for-18 from deep in the opener, they’re going to bounce back and guys like Frankie Fidler, Akins, Tre Holloman, Xavier Booker, Kur Teng, and Jase Richardson are going to get hot and stay hot, finishing with over 50 percent shooting from deep on the night.

Michigan State may not cover the 29.5 points, but its hot shooting will have fans feeling a lot better.