Next 6 games will determine if Michigan State basketball is a Big Ten title contender

The next six games on the Michigan State basketball schedule will determine if the Spartans are legit Big Ten title contenders.

Michigan State basketball is as hot as it’s been all season. The Spartans are riding a four-game winning streak as Big Ten play resumes on Thursday night against Penn State.

Big Ten championships are an expectation at MSU, there is no denying that. This team undoubtedly had those expectations this season, but are those hopes already tarnished? The Spartans are 0-2 in conference play so winning the conference crown will be difficult, but not impossible. These next six games for MSU will determine if we are Big Ten contenders or pretenders.

Home games

One key to winning the Big Ten is defending your home court. We’ve already failed that once when we lost to Wisconsin, so we can’t afford to do that in this next stretch.

Three of our next six games are at home against opponents we probably should beat. Penn State (7-6) is first this Thursday and according to the computer metrics they are the worst team in the Big Ten. If we lose this game we might as well forget winning the Big Ten.

The other two are back to back games against Rutgers (8-4) and Minnesota (10-3) on Jan. 14 and 18, respectively. Both teams have a solid record, but the strength of those records aren’t very high. Rutgers’ best win is against Seton Hall and Minnesota’s is against Nebraska. Don’t get me wrong, those are two solid wins, but if they are your best win this season then that says something about the strength of your record.

Rutgers and Minnesota would give us some difficulties on the road, but these games being at the Breslin Center is a game-changer. The expectation should be to win all three of these home games.

Away games

The three away games in this stretch is where I start to get concerned. The first is against Northwestern (10-2) on Jan. 7. It’s not very often that you see a Northwestern team with that good of a record, but they are the real deal this season. So much so that the Wildcats are the only team to beat Purdue this season. This is one we obviously can’t overlook. The one thing in our favor is that Northwestern doesn’t have much depth on their team, so hopefully we can use that to our advantage and pull out the win.

The hardest game in this stretch will be directly after we play Northwestern when Michigan State basketball travels to Illinois (10-2) only four days later. Illinois has been the second best team in the conference so far this season with great wins against Florida Atlantic and Rutgers. They also have two close losses to Tennessee and Marquette as well.

However, Illinois is now without their best player Terrence Shannon Jr. who has been suspended indefinitely. Will they continue to be as good without him? We will find out before we take on the Illini as their next two opponents are Northwestern and Purdue.

The last away game in this stretch is Maryland (9-4) on Jan. 21. This Terps team isn’t what we are used to seeing from Maryland. They do not have a good win on their resume yet and also have two horrendous losses to UAB and Davidson. They won’t be a pushover, but this is likely the easiest of the three away games in this stretch.

What should MSU’s goal be?

I’ve been saying all along that a 15-5 record will give us a chance at winning the Big Ten. That is going to be very difficult after an 0-2 start, but it all starts with this stretch.

These are six winnable games, but I don’t expect Michigan State basketball to win them all. I think we will win each home game but drop one on the road either to Northwestern or Illinois. With that, I think a challenging but attainable goal for us is 5-1 in this stretch. Doing that will put us firmly back in the race for the Big Ten.