2 Things to Watch in MSU's Massive Mackey Test at Purdue
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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State wants to be known as a great team. Well, college basketball teams are judged by how they do right about now.
This is a sport where, like it or not, the season is remembered by what you did in March (and April, if you’re really good/lucky). It’s not the third month of the year just yet, but it may as well be.
No. 13 MSU isn’t going to win the Big Ten this time, but it still has a lot to play for. The same goes for eighth-ranked Purdue. Thursday night’s meeting between these two programs with sustained success is sure to have ramifications on the Spartans’ Big Ten and NCAA Tournament seedings.
Michigan State's Tom Izzo and the Boilermakers’ Matt Painter are the two longest-tenured coaches in the Big Ten. Izzo is in his 31st year; Painter is in his 21st. They know each other pretty well. This will be the two coaches’ 36th meeting against one another — Painter holds a slim 18-17 advantage in the series. Here’s a couple of things to watch as Izzo tries to level the score:
How the Spartans Start
The Spartans have had a bit of a bad habit of starting slowly on the road. It started slowly at Wisconsin during its last road game on Feb. 13, and it never came close to recovering after digging an early 32-14 hole.
One road game before that, against Minnesota on Feb. 4, the Spartans went down 15-5 early against the Golden Gophers. They ended up never leading and lost a 76-73 game that was much worse than what the final score indicated (Minnesota led by 16 with a few minutes left).
Slow starts are death at Mackey Arena, which may be the only Big Ten venue tougher on a visiting team than the Breslin Center. It’s a pretty difficult task, but MSU has to find a way to dull the crowd at least a little bit. If Purdue goes on an early run, that place will be jumping, the Boilermakers will be feeding off of it, and the Spartans will have to try to not get discouraged in a situation where it is very easy to do so.
That doesn’t mean Mackey is Fort Knox, though, even though the Spartans haven't won there in 12 years. Visiting teams have gone in there and won this season --- three of them, infact. Michigan is the only team to truly start fast there and win, but Michigan State is also not a team that is built to play from behind so much due to its lack of consistent three-point shooting. MSU’s most likely path to victory here is jumping out ahead and keeping its thumb on the lead.
The Braden Smith Problem
There probably is not a tougher point guard in the Big Ten to game plan for than Purdue’s Braden Smith. The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, as well as the conference’s all-time assists-getter, is as smart, experienced, and as capable as it gets in college basketball. Thursday will be Smith’s 138th game as a Boilermaker — it will also be his 138th start.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Michigan State defends him. Izzo indicated on Tuesday that it would be more of a team effort, meaning it won’t just be a 1-on-1 battle between Smith and Jeremy Fears Jr. or Jordan Scott.
He also said that help defense from the big men will be important. That’s something Izzo was pleased with when the Spartans took down Purdue in East Lansing last year, forcing Smith to turn it over six times.
Those assists are the thing to keep an eye on. Smith is averaging 9.14 assists per game when Purdue wins this season. During losses, he’s at 7.0 per game. Where it’s also clear is in the assist-to-turnover ratio. Smith has sat at 3.35-to-1 during victories this year. Losses, it’s just 1.94-to-1.
What’s also interesting is that Smith is averaging more points during defeats (16.8) than during wins (14.5). Those that are able to clog up those passing lanes just a bit have been the teams that have been the ones with the best shot.
MSU also has to be careful as to not focus on Smith too much. The offense runs through him, but he is a good enough facilitator to make Michigan State pay if its eyes are on him too much. He’s only six assists away from being the first Big Ten player to 1,000 career assists for a reason.
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Tom Izzo Press Conference
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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