Michigan State basketball: Week off will hopefully be what this team needs

Michigan State basketball will have five full days between games after losing to Ohio State. Hopefully that’s what this team needs.

Michigan State basketball is at an interesting point in its season. One week ago, we all thought they were a lock to make the NCAA Tournament. That was until they lost two straight games at home to teams who aren’t in the NCAA Tournament picture themselves. Now MSU has a lot of work to do with just a few games left to guarantee its spot in the tournament.

With just three games remaining in the regular season, the Spartans have a full week off before their next game. This week off could be exactly what they need to finish the season strong.

Benefits of this week off

There are a lot of obvious benefits to this week off for Michigan State. The first obvious one is the extra rest to help their bodies heal and recover. This team isn’t dealing with many noticeable injuries right now, but I doubt anyone is feeling 100 percent, so they all good use the break to heal up. Tyson Walker, however, has been dealing with a groin injury for about a month now, so this extra time off will be very helpful to him.

This time off also will give MSU more time to prepare for their next opponent. And they likely will need all the time they can get. Michigan State travels to Purdue on Saturday in what will be the most difficult game of their season. This extra prep time could be exactly what Tom Izzo needs to get his team ready for the matchup. If the Spartans were able to pull off this win, that would eliminate any chances of them missing the tournament.

But this extra time off may not be such a good thing. Tom Izzo even spoke after the loss to Ohio State that this time off may not be in their best interest.

Izzo thinks time off might not be helpful

During Izzo’s post-game press conference after the Ohio State game, he had this to say about the upcoming week off.

“Now this week we get five to six days in between games and its spring break. You think that’s good, it’s not good. Last week I gave them two days off because I thought they were so worn down. This is going to be the one time I’ll say this. They got to figure something out, too.”

This obviously tells us that this time off may not be beneficial according to Izzo. I could definitely see this being the case as some teams get cold after some time off. And that may have been what happened to MSU as they struggled offensively most of the game against Ohio State.

I’ll be curious to hear how practice goes this week for the team. If Izzo is afraid of the extra time off then he could simulate games by running full scrimmages during practice. Regardless of what he decides to do in practice, this extra time off will help with preparing for Purdue and hopefully they can do enough to pull off the upset win.