Michigan State basketball: Getting to know Michigan

Michigan State basketball takes the Breslin Center court on Tuesday night to face Michigan. Let’s get to know the Wolverines.

Michigan State basketball is coming off a disappointing 81-66 loss to Wisconsin on Friday night. As is typical with the Big Ten schedule, another big game is right around the corner. This time it’s against in-state rival Michigan.

Before the game gets here on Tuesday, let’s take a quick look at how Michigan has been doing this season.

Michigan season in review

If you’re a fan of Michigan State basketball, then you likely already know how the Wolverines’ season has gone so far. They are by far one of the worst teams, if not the worst, in the Big Ten. They did, however, start the season well, beginning the year 3-0 with a decent win over St. John’s. That good start ended quickly as Michigan went on to lose five of their next six games including a home game to Long Beach State.

The bad stretch never really ended for Michigan as they also lost to McNeese State at home and Penn State on a neutral court. Michigan this season is 7-13 overall and 2-7 in Big Ten play and are on their way to missing the NCAA and NIT tournaments.

Heading into Tuesday night’s game, Michigan is on a three-game losing streak. Their most recent game was against Iowa at home which they lost 88-78.

If MSU ever needed a game to “get right” this is the one.

Key players to watch

Michigan’s best player by far is Dug McDaniel who is averaging 17.2 points and 5.1 assists per game. However, the Spartans won’t have to worry about Dug in this game. He is in the middle of a six game road suspension so he will not be making the trip to East Lansing. Yes, you read that correctly, Dug is only suspended for road games, something I have never heard of before.

Michigan does have a couple solid players outside of McDaniel as well. Olivier Nkamhoua is averaging 16.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He will be the guy Michigan plays through the most on offense in this game.

I also am a fan of Will Tschetter’s game, but Juwan Howard for some reason doesn’t give him many minutes. He is a spark plug for this team, so watch out when he is on the floor as he is 59.4 percent from three point land this season.

With win No. 700 on the line for Tom Izzo, this is a must-win game. It’s important to beat Michigan every time, but a loss would destroy MSU’s tournament resume. If all goes right, the Spartans should be celebrating win No. 700 in blowout fashion.