Michigan State basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. Samford

Are we all on the same page that we want to forget Saturday’s Michigan State basketball game against Bowling Green?

Alright, cool.

Now, on to the task at hand: Samford comes to town on Tuesday evening to face a 3-1 Michigan State team that has struggled mightily from 3-point range this season to the tune of the nation’s worst 3-point shooting percentage through four games.

That’s right, Michigan State is dead-last in all of college basketball (No. 355) in terms of 3-point shooting percentage (20%) this season. The Spartans have made 16-of-80 shots from 3-point range so far, but the same problem persisted through the first three games of the 2023-24 season so let’s hope this team just needs to get warmed up. It has costed the Spartans only one game (Kansas) so far, but let’s hope it stops there.

With a Samford team averaging nearly 100 points per game coming to town on Tuesday night, it’s time to figure it out.

Let’s get bold.

1. Xavier Booker finally breaks through

The 10,000 piece puzzle that is Xavier Booker has been quite the controversy this year. He has struggled on the offensive end, scoring a total of 14 points in four games and getting blanked in the Champions Classic against Kansas. He’s also shooting just 24 percent from the floor and 14.3% from deep. It seems as if he’s in Tom Izzo’s infamous dog house.

After playing just 10 minutes against Bowling Green and scoring three points with three rebounds, a block, an assist and two turnovers, Booker better be hungry to prove himself once again. He has fallen out of the good graces of Izzo and the fanbase and it’s time to get back.

Booker is going to have his best game of the season, scoring 13 points with seven rebounds and two blocks. He’ll play close to 20 minutes and it’ll be tough for Izzo to keep him off the floor. Oh, and he’s going to make three big 3-pointers.

2. Jeremy Fears Jr. has first 10-assist game of the year

I’m shocked this hasn’t happened yet, but that’s to be expected when Michigan State is shooting just 16-for-80 from 3-point range. The Spartans haven’t been able to help Jeremy Fears out much this season but he’s going to finally get some help on Tuesday as he posts his first double-digit assist game of the season.

Fears was close in the first two games with eight assists in each contest, but has had 11 total in the past two games. He’ll match that on Tuesday night with 11 assists and just two turnovers against Samford. He’ll add eight points in the effort.

3. Michigan State shoots 40 percent from deep

This might sound like the tamest bold prediction in the history of this series, but Michigan State basketball is shooting 20 percent from deep this season so predicting it to double that number against Samford is a big deal.

The Spartans haven’t been able to find that stroke from deep but it’ll finally come to them on Tuesday.

As has been the case through the first four games, Michigan State will be open early and often from distance against Samford, but this time the Spartans will take advantage with 10 threes on 24 attempts.