Game Info:

Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing, MI

When: 8:00 pm (EST)

TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/Spartan Sports Network radio

Western Michigan 7-5: #279 (Kenpom)

Depth Chart:

1 - Michael Flowers (6’1” jr), Rafael Cruz (6’1” jr)
2 - B Artis White (5’9” fr), William Boyer-Richard (6’1” so)
3 - Jason Whitens (6’4”so), Jared Printy (6’4” sr)
4 - Brandon Johnson (6’8” jr), Chase Barrs (6’9” fr)
5 - Titus Wright (6’8” fr)

Scout:

WMU is somewhere between Oakland and Charleston Southern in terms of quality. They are small across the board, awful defensively (#302 in Drtg) and offensively (#222 in Ortg), and only have 2 players with Ortgs at 110 or higher: Flowers and Printy.

Flowers can shoot the ball pretty well at ~42% from 3 (25/60), as can Printy at ~48% from 3 (15/31). Printy basically does not shoot anything but 3’s (so run him off the line), while Flowers and Johnson (their highest usage guy) take shots from all over and both get to the line at ~50% ft rates (Whitens gets to the line too). In fact, WMU is #3 in the country in FTA/FGA - so it will be interesting to see if MSU can keep them off the line as they will be driving, pump-faking, and seeking contact.

They only lost by 7 to Ok St. So this team has upset-dreams in it.

Game-plan:

Cash, Loyer, Brown, Henry, and Watts (if healthy), should have a field day offensively, and our front-court should dominate the very thin and under-skilled WMU bigs. This should be a cake-walk, and a great chance for bench guys to get some rhythm looks.

Stay healthy, stay focused the whole game, and don’t let them hang around.

Prediction:

MSU 90 WMU 57

GO GREEN!!!