Michigan State basketball: 3 keys to victory vs. No. 3 Purdue in BTT

Michigan State basketball faces the toughest test of the Big Ten Tournament with a matchup against No. 3 Purdue.

Michigan State basketball is back in action again on Friday, this time against the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers. The regular season champs are fresh having not played a game in this tournament yet, but the Spartans are riding some momentum after their opening round 77-67 win over Minnesota.

Purdue obviously presents a lot of challenges for the Spartans; they are one of the best teams in the country for a reason. But the Spartans found success in their one meeting this year, nearly pulling off the upset.

Here are my three keys that will help the Spartans pull off the upset this time.

1. Focus more attention on Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer

You might be wondering why the number one key isn’t finding a way to stop Zach Edey. He is the player of the year so he should be Michigan State’s main focus on defense right? I’m not listing that as a key for two reasons. The first is that I don’t think MSU can stop him no matter what we do. So their defensive attention is better suited elsewhere.

That’s where focusing on Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer comes into play. The two Purdue guards dominated MSU in the first meeting, combining for 38 points. When you add Zach Edey to that level of production, it’s nearly impossible to beat Purdue. So the Spartans need to focus their attention on these two, because I don’t think Edey is capable of winning a game on his own.

I also think the Spartan guards are on the same level as Smith and Loyer. The Spartan bigs, however, are obviously nowhere near Edey’s level, so that’s why Michigan State might be better suited to let Edey dominate the game and focus on stopping their second and third best players.

2. Give Xavier Booker as many minutes as possible

For as much trouble as Edey will cause the MSU bigs in this game, I think Xavier Booker can do the same against Edey. Sure Booker won’t be able to do much to stop Edey from scoring, but we already saw Booker have success against Edey and Purdue in their first meeting.

Booker finished the game with a career-high 11 points, and even hit two 3-pointers over Edey. He does not have the lateral quickness to keep up with Booker, so the Spartans need to utilize that to their advantage. If they accomplish the first key I mentioned, then it’s OK if Booker gives up some points to Edey. Also, Booker can play a lot of minutes at the four as well and not even have to guard Edey. So Tom Izzo needs to find a way to give Booker as many minutes as possible, ideally somewhere around 20.

3. Limit wasted possessions

It’s going to be hard enough to beat Purdue in general, so the last thing Michigan State basketball needs to do is shoot itself in the foot. Thankfully for MSU, the turnover bug hasn’t been a huge issue this season, but that will need to continue.

However, the one thing that Michigan State does struggle with is wasted possessions due to poor execution and plays. The biggest example of this is throwing the ball into the post to Michigan State’s bigs. At this point in the season, it’s clear that most of the bigs aren’t effective with the ball down low, so the Spartans need to limit how often they run plays to set them up.

I’m not suggesting they never throw the ball down low, especially since Jaxon Kohler proved he was capable against Minnesota. But the less MSU does that the better their chance at winning.