Battle At Crisler Key for Both Teams Tomorrow Evening

Tomorrow night’s game is critical for both Big Ten teams in the state. Michigan desperately needs to garner another “key” win to impress the tournament

Tomorrow night’s game is critical for both Big Ten teams in the state. Michigan desperately needs to garner another “key” win to impress the tournament committee and MSU has to shake a two game Crisler Arena losing streak.Â

 

Make no mistake about it Spartan fans, Michigan basketball is getting better. Are they anywhere near as talented as Michigan State? No… absolutely not!! Is this a game that State could lose? There is no doubt in my mind that this one will be close for much of the contest tomorrow evening. It shouldn’t be, but MSU has a way of letting inferior teams hang around and UM has a way of playing out of their heads against tough competition. You need only look at wins against Duke and UCLA to realize their potential. They took #1 U Conn to the wire over the weekend.

 

Michigan State needs to come out and assert themselves on the defensive end of the floor. When MSU plays relentless defense, it leads to transition baskets that really get the entire roster involved. We will have to win again tomorrow night without the services of Raymar Morgan who is arguably our most complete player. I am tired of all the Manny Harris talk. I admit that I am biased. After all, I write for a publication that covers MSU. What I am about to say will enflame many Wolverine fans, but I believe it to be true. Manny Harris will be the third best player on the floor behind Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers tomorrow night. He would fall into the fourth position if Raymar were healthy.

 

Summers and Lucas would average considerably more points if that were the only “go-to” player on their respective team. Manny has to shoot because he is one of two legitimate weapons on the UM roster. The other being Deshawn Sims who is a really good forward around the basket. If State is worthy of their top-10 ranking than they should dispose of Michigan tomorrow evening.

 

Lucas should take the ball to the goal every chance he gets. I don’t believe that Michigan has an answer for Suton or Roe. After Green’s IU party, he will certainly see some minutes against Michigan. The two home losses against Northwestern and Penn State were inexcusable. I was willing to forgive one of them, but the back-to-back home losses leaves a hole in pit of my stomach. A win at Ann Arbor will do much to repair the damage that was done a couple weeks ago.

 

The good news is that the rest of the conference is cooperating and beating one another leaving MSU in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. The bad news is that Raymar is still ailing and State hasn’t figured out how to completely demolish an opponent consistently. I expected a thirty-point win against an undermanned IU team. I didn’t expect MSU to hammer Minny the way they did; that was appropriate after the two previous Breslin performances.

 

The three pointers will fall for the Spartans tomorrow and the boards will be owned by the “men-in-green.” State will turn the ball over against the Wolverine zone more than we should, keeping the game close for much of the second half. In the end, good free throw shooting will be the difference. Make it MSU 78, SUNY Ann Arbor 66.