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MSU basketball vs. Oakland tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction


MSU basketball vs. Oakland tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction

* TV/Radio: ESPN2/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 384 (MSU broadcast)

* Records/Rankings: MSU is 8-2 and ranked No. 19 in the Coaches Poll and No. 20 in Associated Press poll and is No. 17 on the college basketball analytics site Kenpom.com. Oakland is 3-5 and unranked. The Grizzlies are ranked No. 192 by Kenpom.

* MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a 10-day break, which included final exams, after three straight strong showings -- a win over North Carolina in Maui, and dominant Big Ten wins at Minnesota and home against Nebraska. Through 10 games, MSU is shooting 80.4% from the free-throw line, which would be a program record for a season. This is also the Spartans' best rebounding team since 2017-18, per Kenpom.com. After Tuesday night's game, MSU hosts Florida Atlantic on Saturday and then welcomes Western Michigan and former longtime MSU assistant Dwayne Stephens on Dec. 30, before jumping back into Big Ten play.

* Oakland update: Coming off a Horizon League championship and NCAA tournament win, the Grizzlies are struggling early this season and appear to lack the offensive punch they've had in recent years. Four of their five losses are by double digits, including to Boise State, Illinois (which was relatively close), Kansas (by 21) and, most recently, Youngstown State (by 16). They've beaten Toledo and Wright State for their only two Division I wins. Oakland's big issue right now is that it's shooting less than 25% from 3 and allowing opponents to shoot better than 36% from long range. A bad combination for a team that's also barely shooting 60% from the line.

* Matchup analysis: Oakland plays what Izzo always describes as a funky zone. It allows Kampe to play his best players a lot of minutes and it can create issues. I don't think it will for this MSU team, which has seen a number of different defenses, including zone, and has the guards and skilled bigs to handle it. Oakland has a number of seasoned guys who can be good players on good teams. But this Grizzlies team lacks the headliner or pro that can repeatedly hurt a team like MSU. It's also an undersized team on the interior, which plays in to the Spartans hands, allowing them to feature Coen Carr at power forward and Jaxon Kohler or Xavier Booker at center, they so choose.

RELATED: Couch: Is Michigan State men's basketball back? The numbers suggest MSU's start is real

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.

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