Three things we want to see from MSU basketball vs. Minnesota

Folks, our Spartans are rolling right now with eight straight wins.

Now, as we all know, that hasn’t been the smoothest eight-game win streak. And being a blogger, it’s my job to nitpick at things until this team starts winning games by 90-plus points.

There are plenty of reasons to be happy right now. Miles Bridges is an absolute animal. Jaren Jackson really doesn’t seem fair to have on a college basketball team (let’s just forget about that last game). And, really, this has been a fun team to watch.

However, with a road game against Minnesota coming up tonight, there are a few more things we want to see from this team.

Anything you want to see tonight? Throw down your thoughts in the comments.

A smooth-sailing game (easier said than done, I know)

Hey, listen, I get it. A close game is thrilling. A big comeback spikes the heart rate even more. We’re all trying to be entertained in this life.

However, I would enjoy not kicking the bucket thanks to a heart attack at 25 years old. Especially not before March.

My selfish fandom aside, an easy, breezy game would be nice to see so this team can snap the slow start trend they’ve been on. That will be even tougher to do on the road at an arena that’s difficult to play in, no matter how quality the Golden Gophers are in any given year.

Get off to a solid start – one that isn’t marred by turnovers and early foul trouble – and keep control of the game from jump ball to final horn. This team is too good to play in what would be their sixth straight close game in the Big Ten.

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Langford finding his footing

I want to be careful with how I word this, because I don’t want to make it sound like I think Langford is a total train wreck. He’s just in a slight slump, shooting above 33 percent just twice in the last six games, and seeing him break out of that would be nice.

Thankfully Matt McQuaid has been more than serviceable coming off the bench to make up for the small void. If Langford can shoot himself out of this small funk and rediscover his consistency, look out for a strong finish to this season for MSU.

Continued ball control

When you think of weaknesses this team has, “turnovers” might be the headliner as our Spartans boast the second worst turnover margin in the Big Ten at -2.9 per game. However, it’s gotten better the last three games, averaging just over nine turnovers per game. That’s also including the season-low of six turnovers that we saw on Saturday.

This team doesn’t get enough steals on the other end to wipe away a turnover issue, and seeing them continue to make strides in a road game would be just dandy to see.