Michigan State basketball should use 2018 win over Purdue as blueprint for Saturday

Michigan State basketball should use the 2018 win over Purdue as a blueprint for Saturday’s matchup in West Lafayette.

Michigan State basketball has its most difficult game of the season up next. The Spartans travel to Purdue to take on the Boilermakers who are one of the best teams in the country.

This game will be extremely difficult for many reasons and nearly impossible to prepare for. Purdue big man Zach Edey is extremely dominant and there’s nothing you can really do to stop him. But what if I told you MSU doesn’t have top stop him to win this game? What if I told you all MSU needs to do is draw on a game from six years ago for the blueprint on how to beat this Purdue team?

MSU vs. Purdue 2018 game recap

Some of you may already remember which game I am talking about. In what was the game of the year in 2018, the No. 4 Michigan State Spartans took on No. 3 Purdue at the Breslin Center. Michigan State went on to win this game 68-65 thanks to a 3-pointer from Miles Bridges with 2.7 seconds remaining.

February 10, 2018: Miles Bridges drills a big time three pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining to lead the Spartans to a 68-65 win over Purdue. pic.twitter.com/lkoZQBH5Es

— Sparty Moments (@SpartyMoments) February 11, 2018

This game is one of the best moments in recent history for MSU, and it also can be extremely helpful going into the game this weekend against Purdue. The 2018 Purdue team featured another extremely dominant big man in Isaac Haas who, just like Zach Edey, could not be stopped. No amount of scheming, double teams, or face guarding could slow him down. So what did Tom Izzo and Michigan State do?

They let Haas dominate the game. Michigan State played Isaac Haas one-on-one and let him go off. Haas finished the game with 25 points and five rebounds, but it still wasn’t enough for Purdue. The reason it wasn’t enough was because MSU locked down everyone else.

Michigan State was fine letting Haas score his points near the basket as long as nobody else for Purdue hurt them. When Isaac had the ball, they didn’t double-team him like everyone else did, they stayed attached to Purdue’s shooters and let Haas go one-on-one with his MSU defender.

This strategy worked to perfection as the rest of the Purdue team struggled on offense. Carsen Edwards scored 14 points, but it was on an extremely inefficient 5-for-15 shooting. No other Boilermaker finished with more than eight points and everybody was inefficient from the field as well. So letting Haas dominate down low allowed Michigan State to limit the rest of their team and win the game.

MSU needs to do the same thing on Saturday

Michigan State should play Zach Edey the same way it did Haas in 2018. MSU needs to be fine with Edey scoring upwards of 30 points as long as no other Boilermaker has a good game. Let Edey go one-on-one down low but prevent him from kicking it out for wide open threes from their guards. If Michigan State can do that, it might just stand a chance.

Sophomore guard Braden Smith is another Boilermaker who could really hurt MSU. Smith is averaging 12.7 points, 7.3 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game this year. But if the Spartans can focus on defending and stopping him, that will significantly increase their chances of winning.

Michigan State basketball needs to turn Purdue into a one-headed monster, not a two-headed monster like it has been all year. That’s what the Spartans did in 2018 and that’s what they need to do this weekend. Edey scoring 30-plus points for Purdue doesn’t hurt MSU as long as nobody else plays well. So if Michigan State follows this strategy again, I think they have a fighter’s chance of an upset in West Lafayette.