Michigan State basketball: Next 2 games are most pivotal this season

Why are the next two Michigan State basketball games the most pivotal so far this season? Well, the Spartans haven’t won away from Michigan.

Michigan State basketball had two must-win games at home this past week, and they did what they needed to do. Rutgers and Minnesota both came to East Lansing and left with losses, which brings the Spartans’ record up to 3-4 in Big Ten play.

The Spartans now have a difficult two-game stretch in front of them as they hit the road once again. Michigan State travels to Maryland (11-7) on Sunday then to Wisconsin (13-4) on Friday. Both teams are very good and present a difficult challenge to the Spartans. But MSU has to find a way to at least win one to get its season fully back on track.

Here are a few reasons why winning these next two games is extremely critical.

1. Back in the Big Ten hunt

If Michigan State can win both of these games they will still have a chance in the race for the Big Ten. They still would. at worst, be two games back from first place, so they by no means would be frontrunners yet. But a loss or two in these games would likely eliminate any chance of MSU winning the Big Ten.

Wisconsin also is the No. 1 team in the Big Ten with only one conference loss this season. So if the Spartans can win in Madison, that automatically brings them that much closer to the top of the conference. This also would prove that they can hang with the best of the best in the Big Ten and give them a lot of confidence moving forward.

2. Resume building

The Spartans’ resume needs some improvement before the end of the season. There isn’t any fear of missing the NCAA Tournament right now, but they for sure aren’t a lock yet. They do have solid wins against Baylor, Butler, and Indiana State, but MSU doesn’t have a strong conference win yet. These two games provide really good opportunities to do just that.

When looking at the NET rankings, Maryland will be a Quad 2 game and Wisconsin will be a Quad 1 game. MSU is only 3-7 in these games combined, which isn’t horrible but isn’t good either. If MSU wants a good seed come NCAA Tournament time, wins in these two games will help a lot.

3. First road wins

Michigan State not only hasn’t won a true road game yet this season, but they haven’t even won a game outside the state of Michigan either. That seems hard to believe, but all of MSU’s wins have come at the Breslin Center or the one win in Detroit against Baylor. The Spartans have three Big Ten road losses and two out-of-state neutral court losses to Duke and Baylor.

It’s impossible to have a good season if you never win on the road. Failing to do so also would tell us a lot about this team and how they may not be as mentally strong as we thought. If MSU wants to have the season it dreamed of, it needs to start winning some games away from home.

Both of these upcoming games will be extremely difficult. Michigan State’s 76-66 win over Minnesota on Thursday didn’t increase my confidence either. But these two games are extremely important for the Spartans’ season and they need to find a way to win one of them if not both.