After losing their first two games of the regular season against powerhouses North Carolina and Duke, Michigan State has won seven straight games going into Saturday’s game against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
But all of those wins have come in East Lansing, besides a 72-40 crushing of Eastern Michigan University just down the road in Ypsilanti, Michigan. So the only question is this: What Michigan State team will show up in Washington?
Will it be the team that starts out tough, then slows down and plays catch up the rest of the game- that we saw versus UNC and Duke? Or will we see the team that only leads Central Connecticut by two at halftime only to turn it on in the second half and win by 20 points? If it’s either of those this weekend, the only thing we’ll be seeing is the third loss of the year for the Spartans. Michigan State must play a complete game on the road against Gonzaga to win this one.
[caption id="attachment_268" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Travis Trice is coming off of a career high 20 points. Photo by Detroit News"]
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Ranked #22, the Bulldogs are coming off their first loss of the season, after being defeated by on-the-rise-again Illinois, also from the Big Ten. Besides the seven point loss to the Illini they have not been tested. But you can expect the typical high-powered offense that Gonzaga has always thrived upon.
Perhaps the most complete game we’ve seen thus far from the Spartans was against Nebraska-Omaha. MSU shot 62% from the field, 90% from the charity stripe, and 50% from three-point range. Outrebounding the Mavericks 53-15 certainly helped as well- the Spartans are 2nd in the country in rebounds per game.
If Michigan State can do all these things, and contain Gonzaga’s Elias Harris and Robert Sacre down low, they will do just fine and come home with a win against Gonzaga.
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