Michigan State basketball at Rutgers: Scouting report, prediction

Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press
·6 min read

It wasn’t exactly scheduled this way and it isn’t quite the midway point just yet, but Thursday’s game at Rutgers may as well be the start of the second half of Michigan State basketball’s season.

The three-game stoppage during which five players tested positive for COVID-19 is expected to end — barring another late postponement — as Tom Izzo takes his team on the road.

“Right away, it sucked, because we're getting ready to go play a big game against Iowa. And then after that, we kind of got a couple of days off to rest, and it was maybe a little bit needed just to get some rest,” junior Joey Hauser said Tuesday. “But after two or three days, you were ready to play some games again. Then we had a couple more things happen, so it's been a long stretch here.

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“At times, it got hard.”

MSU (8-4, 2-4 Big Ten) has not played since a 55-54 home loss Jan. 8 to Purdue — marking a 20-day layoff Thursday when the Spartans emerge at Rutgers Athletic Center against the Scarlet Knights (8-6, 4-6). The Spartans had won two straight, including beating Rutgers 68-45 on Jan. 5, before collapsing against the Boilermakers.

“I don't like what our record is totally,” Izzo said Tuesday. “I didn't like the last game we played — that left a sour taste in your mouth. … We just gotta move forward, and I feel real good that we can move forward.”

Here is what to watch in the 7 p.m. game in Piscataway, New Jersey, which will be broadcast by FS1:

Road ahead

Michigan State huddles up before the game against Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State huddles up before the game against Rutgers on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

The Spartans’ trip to Iowa got called off shortly before they were to take off Jan. 13. Joshua Langford’s positive COVID-19 test, the third player that week to get the virus along with freshman Mady Sissoko and sophomore walk-on Steven Izzo, the coach’s son, prompted the postponement.

Since then, home games against Indiana and Illinois were delayed. MSU had a fourth player, freshman walk-on Davis Smith, test positive Jan. 17 along with two staff members. Late last week, junior Gabe Brown became the fifth player this month to get COVID-19, and assistant coach Dane Fife tested positive Monday.

“This is the kind of thing you gotta prepare for,” Hauser said. “And obviously, there could be some guys playing more minutes. Subbing rotation could happen more often ... maybe because of our conditioning. So everybody's got to be ready to play.”

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Making up those games — as well as the trip to Michigan, originally scheduled for Feb. 6, called off due to the Wolverines' athletic programs' two-week shut down — is going to complicate things for MSU over the next two months.

The Spartans head to Ohio State from Rutgers for a 1 p.m. Sunday game (CBS). The Iowa game got rescheduled for Tuesday (time TBD on FS1), meaning Izzo’s team will play three road games in six days.

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A home game against Nebraska got pushed back three days to Feb. 6, with the 6:30 p.m. start on BTN filling the open spot created with the U-M postponement.

It remains unclear when MSU will make up that road trip to Ann Arbor or the home games with the Hoosiers and Illini. The Spartans have a two-game week scheduled as of now after Nebraska, with visits from Penn State on Feb. 9 and a return game with Iowa on Feb. 13. That is followed by another two-game week on the road at Purdue (Feb. 16) and Indiana (Feb. 20).

Two of the Spartans’ final three games are at home — Feb. 25 vs. Ohio State and March 7 against Michigan to close the regular season, with a trip to Maryland on Feb. 28 sandwiched between.

“They can move games this way, and they can move games that way,” Izzo said of the league. “I don't think anybody has a clue (what to expect). … I can see some bizarre things happening if they want to get the games in.”

Long layoff

Michigan State's Malik Hall, left, pressures Rutgers' Jacob Young during the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State's Malik Hall, left, pressures Rutgers' Jacob Young during the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

A bumpy, inconsistent beginning to Big Ten play followed a 6-0 nonconference start during which MSU climbed to No. 4 in the Ferris Mowers coaches poll (formerly the USA TODAY coaches poll).

Then came the stoppage.

Izzo spent much of pause only able to work out players in small group settings with individual workouts and three-on-three drills. The Spartans did not scrimmage five-on-five until Monday, when they finally had 10 players available to hold a team practice.

“What translates from practice to game is probably more in shooting and execution of things,” Izzo said. “But it'll definitely be different as far as the banging and rebounding and defending.”

Still, going 20 days in between games during a college basketball season seemed improbable until this winter. Izzo expects to have “11 or 12 players” on the trip to Rutgers, but he also admitted Sissoko or Langford may not be physically ready return to their roles in the rotation just yet.

“We all know we're not going to be 100% perfect when we get back out there,” sophomore forward Malik Hall said. “There'll be people missing shots, and game conditioning will definitely be a little bit different than practices. But if we're mentally prepared and mentally willing to fight for the game and come up with our best effort, then I think it'll be good for us.”

Rutgers update

Michigan State's Aaron Henry, right, pressures Rutgers' Montez Mathis on a shot during the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State's Aaron Henry, right, pressures Rutgers' Montez Mathis on a shot during the first half on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

The Scarlet Knights entered the first meeting with MSU earlier this month surging, opening Big Ten play with wins over Maryland and Illinois and winning six straight.

It all changed after that.

Rutgers dropped six of its next seven games, including a bludgeoning by MSU, which has yet to lose in the series. Coach Steve Pikiell’s team snapped a five-game losing streak with a 74-70 win Sunday at Indiana. Geo Baker had 19 points, making four of the Scarlet Knights' eight 3-pointers, and Ron Harper Jr. scored 15 in the win.

The 6-foot-6 Harper — who, along with MSU top scorer Aaron Henry, was named Wednesday to the Julius Erving Award watch list — leads Rutgers at 18.3 points a game, sixth-best in the Big Ten.

Jacob Young averages 14.6 points, and fellow guard Montez Mathis scores 11.3 a game. Those two started Rutgers’ first 13 games before coming off the bench at Indiana as Pikiell went bigger on the perimeter with 6-7 Caleb McConnell and 6-6 Paul Mulcahy starting alongside Harper and 6-4 senior Baker (9.6 points).

Prediction

Rutgers 71, MSU 64: The rust shows in the layoff, and the Scarlet Knights’ veterans take advantage on the wing and exact revenge from their blowout loss in East Lansing. And it gives Pikiell a signature win and Rutgers' first victory over MSU.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball at Rutgers: Scouting report, prediction