Must win preview: Minnesota

After all the tiebreakers were figured out, MSU ended the season with the #8 seed and will face #9 seed Minnesota. These teams played twice in the regular season with each team winning their home game. Michigan State had a 9 point lead in the second half at Minnesota last month and eventually choked the lead and lost. A game like that would be very helpful for the Spartans who are currently on the right side of the bubble but might not be with a loss to the Golden Gophers. According to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s predictions, the Spartans are on the 10 seed line currently. The good news for MSU is that they’re not playing on the Minnesota campus so it won’t be a wild crowd like last time they played. Some for good news for the Spartans; Minnesota is 3-6 since beating MSU in February. Minnesota is a team that has to win the entire Big 10 Tournament to get into the big dance, which will be very tough since the winner plays Purdue.

I am heading to East Lansing to see some friends over spring break so I will be watching the game in town on Thursday. It is a shame Minneapolis is such a far drive from East Lansing because we’d totally make a shorter road trip. Tom Izzo and the Spartans understand what they have to do and that is win a basketball win. This task is obviously much easier said than done but I do like the Spartans’ chances. Minnesota has been slumping and really don’t have much to play for. Michigan State will need to fix up their free throw shooting from their last matchup with the Golden Gophers where they shot 7-17 at the line. The Spartans also can’t let a role player like Cam Christie burn them from deep; Christie had 19 in their last game vs the Spartans. With all of that said, I think MSU gets the win one way or another on Thursday. The game is set to tip at noon on BTN.