UConn men’s basketball returns to exhibition Tuesday night, as the Huskies hit the road to take on Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans and UConn faced off twice last season — once in an exhibition and again in the Sweet 16 — with the Huskies winning both matchups.
Even though this game doesn’t count, it still should be highly anticipated; UConn is No. 4 in the preseason AP top 25, while Sparty is not far away at No. 6. That means it’s entirely possible these teams meet again in March.
How to watch
This exhibition matchup will not be available on linear TV. The only way to watch this game will be on Big Ten Plus. Using this link, you can subscribe to either a monthly plan ($13) or pay per view for this game only for $9.
About Michigan State
Sparty’s season came to an end at the hands of the Huskies last season as UConn defeated MSU 67-63 in Washington, D.C. to advance to the Elite Eight. Tom Izzo made a concerted effort to keep that core together for one more run and brought back Jeremy Fears Jr. to once again serve as the centerpiece. Fears, the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year is a polarizing but effective point guard who will once again be one of the top distributors in the country. As a strong two-way player with an improving shot, he will be in the conversation with Silas Demary Jr. as one of the top point guards in all of college basketball.
Fears’ pick and roll partner this season will likely be the ultra-athletic Coen Carr, a fierce dunker who will be on the receiving end of plenty of lobs from Fears this season. Carr is only mainstay from last year’s frontcourt, but he’s a good one. Even with Jaxson Kohler and Carson Cooper gone, Cam Ward and Kaleb Glenn should provide serviceable minutes, and 7-foot-2 Charlotte transfer Anton Bonke provides serious size, rim protection and even some floor stretching (1.1 3-point attempts per game at 34 percent) for Sparty.
Losing Cooper and Kohler is tough, but the return of Carr, Fears and Kur Teng (38.4 percent from three) provides a rock solid foundation for another strong Spartans squad. While the preseason AP poll has UConn ahead of MSU, KenPom has the Spartans higher — Michigan State is ranked No. 7 in KenPom compared to No. 11 for the Huskies. The Spartans are projected to have the 20th-best offense and ninth-best in terms of efficiency.
What to watch for from UConn
Na’jai Hines did not start in the Huskies’ exhibition win over Syracuse last week, but the Seton Hall transfer was the best player on the court in the win over the Orange with 17 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in less than 20 minutes. His platoon partner Oskar Giltay got the start instead and held his own, as the Stanford transfer had four points, two boards and two blocks.
Hines looked every bit the dominant Tarris Reed Jr. replacement UConn needs him to be if the Huskies want a legitimate shot at a third national title in four seasons. He’ll have a tough test Tuesday night against Bonke, who averaged over 1.5 blocks per game with Charlotte last season. Giltay will also have to work on staying out of foul trouble — while he looked good in his 19 minutes, he was the only Husky to foul out last week.
Demary Jr. will once again be tasked with locking up Fears in a battle of two the sport’s best point guards. In the Sweet 16 matchup last season, Demary Jr. helped force Fears into four turnovers, and Fears had six turnovers in last year’s exhibition, a season-high. While Fears is still a major problem for the Huskies, Demary Jr. affords UConn a luxury most teams don’t have — a relentless, physical guard that can speed up Fears and throw the Sparty offense out of whack.
When Demary Jr. isn’t on the floor, it’s possible Jayden Ross, Colben Landrew and Junior County all see time on Fears on the defensive end. For Landrew and County especially, guarding a top-level talent like Fears will show how ready these highly-touted freshmen are for high-major basketball.
Braylon Mullins didn’t play against Syracuse, and probably will not play in East Lansing. With Mullins figuring to be a major part of the offense this season, UConn will need to find a way to manufacture quality looks without him against a defense that figures to be one of the best in the country. Nik Khamenia stepped up to the challenge against Cuse with 12 points and three 3-pointers, but the Huskies will need more from Ross (two points) and Wofford transfer Nils Machowski (four points) to keep the Sparty defense on their toes.