Ladies and gentlemen of TOC Nation, March is nearly upon us. As the calendar flips to the month of madness, Michigan State basketball will continue their two-game campaign on the road in the Hoosier State. Just this past Thursday night, Tom Izzo’s Spartans picked up a monumental road win against Purdue, good for MSU’s first win at Mackey Arena since 2014. With this newfound momentum, our Spartans will head about two hours south, from West Lafayette to Bloomington, where a hungry Indiana (17-11) team
will await them. The Sunday showdown will take place at 3:45pm on CBS.
The Hoosiers, coached by first year head man Darian DeVries, will head into this March 1st matchup with an 8-9 conference record, and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak. This Tuesday, Indiana suffered one of its most toughest losses of the season, falling 72-68 at home to a sub-par Northwestern team. Despite a 14-point first-half performance from Lamar Wilkerson (more on him later) that helped IU to a big lead at the break, the Hoosiers crumbled in the second half, which has been a theme for DeVries’ team in recent games. Offensive stagnation outside of Wilkerson, and several defensive lapses allowed the Wildcats to secure their sixth (!!!) straight win over IU. With this loss coming on the heels of a blowout 93-64 loss at Purdue and a 71-51 rout at Illinois, Indiana’s tournament hopes are hanging in the balance. Now at 17-11 overall, Indiana is on the chopping block, and would love nothing more than a signature win over MSU to stop the bleeding and cement their position on the right side of the bubble.
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The two teams did meet on January 13 in East Lansing, where Michigan State rolled to an 81-60 victory on the backs of a late 19-0 run to shut the door on the Hoosiers. Thinking back to the first matchup, the past showdown between the two squads was a tale of two halves. While the first period featured some back-and-forth play, MSU got it rolling in the last twenty minutes of play. Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 19 of his 23 points in the 2H, and totaled ten assists on the night. State also got big time contributions from their bench, with Jordan Scott and Kur Teng each chipping in 11 points, along with Cam Ward putting up five and three boards in only 14 minutes of run. Jaxon Kohler added a double-double to the effort, and Carson Cooper had seven and seven.
Now, more than a month later, the Spartans will look to get similar performances out of guards Teng and Scott, both of whom stepped up across the stat sheet against Purdue, but have yet to show the consistency that MSU will need heading into March.
On the Indiana side of things, it was the Lamar Wilkerson show. The graduate student and transfer from Sam Houston State accounted for 19 points on five three pointers, and essentially kept IU afloat and fighting until the 11-minute mark of the second half where MSU would finally put their foot on the gas.
Hoosier Rotation
IU’s transfer-laden lineup has changed a bit since the last matchup, mostly due to a nagging ankle injury to guard Tayton Conerway.
#3, Guard – Lamar Wilkerson, 6-6, Senior (Transfer)
#4, Forward – Sam Alexis, 6-9, Senior (Transfer)
#12, Forward – Tucker DeVries, 6-7, Senior (Transfer)
#5, G – Connor Enright, 6-1, Senior (Transfer)
#7, Guard – Nick Dorn, 6-7, Junior (Transfer)
These five Hoosiers have made up the starting lineup as of late, with Nick Dorn sliding into that top five. Conerway has fought through the lingering injury and played rather well as of late, scoring 12 points against Purdue in 25 minutes of play, and 14 against Northwestern on 6-6 shooting. The rest of the rotation is made up of a couple of bigs who will play key minutes off the bench for Coach DeVries.
#1, Forward – Reed Bailey, 6-10, Senior (Transfer)
#11, Forward – Trent Sisley, 6-8, Freshman
Just like Mike brought up in the last Indiana preview, the Hoosiers are not a particularly big team, and there should be opportunities aplenty inside for Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper, the latter of which has been playing the best basketball of his career. Coop has scored a whopping 47 points across his last three games, along with 24 rebounds to boot. The size advantage also should be favorable for the Kohler Bear, a player who has fallen on a bit of a rough patch, at least in terms of offensive production. Tom Izzo and the rest of the Spartan coaching staff would love nothing more than a return to early-season form for Jax as we head down the stretch of this 2025-26 campaign.
In the backcourt, Lamar Wilkerson has continued to be the lifeblood of this Hoosier team and their tournament hopes. The sharpshooter is averaging 25 over his last five outings, headlined by a 41-point explosion against Oregon in IU’s last win back on February 9th. The question at hand for Indiana remains- who can step up to give Wilkerson help offensively? Coach’s son Tucker DeVries has seen his production fall off a cliff, possibly due to extended usage. The forward has played upwards of 37 minutes in five of the last seven games, and has been performing like you would expect a fatigued shooter to, putting all the more pressure on Lamar Wilkerson to be perfect.
Can DeVries return to early season, or better yet, last season at Drake form? Or will it be Conerway continuing his upward trajectory and feeling healthy enough to be Wilkerson’s running mate? It will likely have to be one of these two pieces for Indiana if they want to pick up the huge home win.
Keys to the Game
Stay composed. Much like Mackey Arena, Assembly Hall is no easy place to play. The Hoosier faithful will be out in full force Sunday afternoon, in dire need of a signature win to assert their place on the right side of the bubble. For MSU, coming off of a season-defining road win at Purdue, it will be paramount to remain focused on the game at hand and not get caught looking forward to tournament play, or the season finale vs u-m. State needs to play with composure, take care of the basketball, and take the IU crowd out of the game as soon as possible.
Get out and run. As we discussed, Indiana’s rotation is only about eight-deep, and many of their key pieces have played extended minutes throughout the month of February. Getting off to a hot start would be helped drastically by getting out in transition early, and hopefully generating a similar performance to last game against IU, where the Spartans led 25-12 in terms of fast break points.
Let the big dogs eat. The red hot Carson Cooper should be licking his lips coming into this one, and not just to continue his tear of double digit scoring. Rebounding is a major concern for IU, as they rank 299th in the nation with only 32.9 boards per game. If Michigan State is able to continue being a strong offensive rebounding team and generate a plethora of second chance points, this will be an incredibly tough game for Indiana to keep close. Look for Jaxon Kohler and Cam Ward to get into the mix on the offensive glass as well.
Shut down Wilkerson. Between Jeremy Fears and Jordan Scott, the Spartan backcourt has done a phenomenal job as of late defending some of the best guards in the conference. From Keaton Wagler of Illinois to Braden Smith of Purdue, State has shown the ability to lock up some serious star power at the guard position. However, we have also seen players like Bruce Thornton of Ohio State explode for 32 points against the Spartan defense. Wilkerson has that same explosive ability, and cutting him off with tight defense will be key for MSU to limit IU’s offensive attack in its entirety.
For college basketball fans, the best time of the year is nearly upon us. The Spartans, feeling high and mighty after a win versus Purdue, will head to another storied venue for a late season matchup with the Hoosiers. Can MSU stay locked in throughout this late season stretch and set themselves up with the best possible seeding come NCAA Tournament time? Will State secure a top-four spot and triple bye in the B1G Tournament? These questions will begin to be answered Sunday in Assembly Hall.
What other questions remain for this Spartan team? What would you like to see in this one? Leave a score prediction in the comments below, and Go Green!!!
