Michigan State basketball: Getting to know Northwestern

Northwestern will play host to Michigan State basketball on Sunday night. This could be a tough one for the Spartans.

Michigan State basketball is fresh off a dominant 92-61 victory over Penn State on Thursday night. The Spartans are now riding a five-game winning streak, but have a quick turnaround in front of them.

The Spartans now travel to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats in a Sunday night road matchup.

Let’s check in on Northwestern and see how they’ve been doing this season.

Northwestern season in review

Typically when you think of Northwestern, you think about a tough, gritty team that you ultimately should beat. That however is not the case this season.

The Wildcats are an impressive 10-3 this season and 1-1 in Big Ten play. The obvious thing that stands out with this Northwestern team is its best win this season. Northwestern arguably has the best win in the country after it handed No. 1 Purdue their only loss of the season. They beat the Boilermakers in overtime on Dec. 1 to really propel this team into the NCAA Tournament conversation. The Wildcats also have a solid 19-point win over Arizona State this year as well.

However, Northwestern also has two brutal losses this year. They lost a buy game against Chicago State and are coming off a 30-point loss to Illinois in their last outing. Don’t get me wrong, Illinois is an elite team, but the Wildcats shouldn’t have lost by 30.

Now, looking at the computer metrics, the NET rankings have Northwestern at No. 79, right in the middle of the Big Ten. ESPN’s latest NCAA Tournament projection also has the Wildcats in as a 10-seed. These metrics and Northwestern’s impressive win over Purdue show this won’t be an easy game for us.

Key players to watch

Does the name Boo Buie ring a bell? I have nightmares about this kid as he always has the game of his life against the Spartans. He once again is the leader of this Northwestern team and is averaging 18.1 points per game. Boo also is playing nearly 35 minutes per game this season, so expect to be annoyed watching him again.

The Wildcats have three other players averaging double figures including Brooks Barnhizer who is close to averaging a double-double with 13 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.

Senior guard Ty Berry is another player to watch out for. He leads Northwestern from 3-point range at 42 percent on the season. Not only is he efficient from deep, but he also takes and makes a lot of 3-point attempts. He has six games this season with at least three long balls, including a 5-of-10 performance against Jacksonville State two games ago. He is someone who can’t get hot if Michigan State is going to win this game.

This will be MSU’s biggest test since we beat Baylor. The Wildcats have been a little up and down this year, but any team that beats Purdue should scare you a little. A win on the road would bring MSU to .500 in conference play and start to make me a believer that the Spartans can win the Big Ten.