My Two Cents: Indiana In 'Must-Win' Territory This Week With Struggling Foes

Indiana has home games this week with Minnesota and Michigan State, two Big Ten teams that are really struggling right now. It's all the more reason why the Hoosiers must win twice this week.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – I listened to all of the Michigan State-Iowa game on the radio Saturday on my ride home from Columbus, and I watched all of Minnesota's game at Maryland Sunday night.

I came away with this very obvious conclusion: Indiana absolutely needs to beat Minnesota and Michigan State this week – and the prize might be a locked-up NCAA Tournament spot.

Indiana not only ''needs'' to win, but they also "should" win both games, because right now, even with all its faults, Indiana will be the better team on the floor in both games.

Indiana plays Minnesota on Wednesday night – weather permitting, of course – and then plays the Spartans early Saturday afternoon. And they will see two teams that are really struggling right now. 

Michigan State lost 88-58 to No. 15 Iowa on Saturday, and the Hawkeyes are a team that Indiana fans know well because the Hoosiers have beaten Iowa twice. The Spartans, who were once 6-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country on Dec. 14, are just 4-8 in the Big Ten and 10-8 overall now. It was the worst loss in the 26-year history of Tom Izzo's program at Michigan State.

Even more amazingly, they've been barely competitive is several games this season and certainly are not the Spartans that we are used to seeing under Izzo, who's made the NCAA Tournament 24 years in a row and has been to the Final Four eight times, as recently as two years ago.

This season alone, Michigan State has lost to Northwestern by 14, Minnesota by 25, Rutgers by 30 and Ohio State by 17 – but all of those games on the road. Hitting rock bottom came on Saturday, where the Spartans lost at HOME by 30, and barely put up a fight. The common theme afterward among Michigan State fans was that this looked like a team that didn't care anymore – and they might be right.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Michigan State's season several times since the summer, and twice during the season. Izzo got the virus, as have most of the players, including Izzo's son, Steven, a backup guard on the team. They've barely practiced as a full team all season and has had four games postponed this far, including one against Indiana on Jan. 17  that probably won't be made up.

They are a complete mess.

Aaron Henry, the former Ben Davis state champion who chose the Spartans over Indiana, was benched by Izzo early in Saturday's blowout.  “It's just kind of the way it worked out,” Izzo said of his junior captain. “I think Aaron, the energy maybe wasn't there. We're gonna have that happen sometimes.

“I thought at the end of that half, when he went back in, and the beginning of the second half, there was a different energy level. But everybody slumps a little bit when you're getting your butt kicked.” 

That was, without a doubt, a butt-kicking.

Michigan State ranks near the bottom in most team Big Ten statistics, and a lot of that has to do with poor point guard play. Cassius Winston was great for four years, and he's missed dearly in East Lansing. Izzo has tried several things this season, and nothing is worked. Rocket Watts is a fine player, but he's not a point guard and he's struggled. Watts left Saturday's game early with an illness, but it didn't appear to be COVID-related.

Henry is the team's leading scorer, but mostly by default. No one else has played well consistently. He's averaging 14.3 points per game, but he's shooting only 40 percent from the field and 28 percent from three. Joey Hauser, the transfer from Marquette, is the only other Spartan (10.4) in double figures.

Michigan State plays at Purdue on Tuesday and then comes to Bloomington on Saturday. And it's safe to say Indiana hasn't seen a Michigan State team like this in many years. Purdue has, of course, because they beat the Spartans 71-42 last year in a season where the Spartans went 22-9 and was Big Ten co-champions.

Minnesota is a bit of a different story, but there's still major sense of urgency for Indiana come Wednesday night. The Gophers lost 72-59 at Maryland on Sunday night, and it wasn't even that close. Minnesota is now 6-8 in the league and 13-8 overall.

The Gophers are just 3-6 in their last nine games, and all but one of the losses has been by 12 points or more. They are getting routed often. Even their win last week over Purdue came on a banked three-pointer and a phantom traveling call against the Boilers in the final minute. They were lucky to win. They simply aren't playing very well right now.

The common thread in Minnesota's losses this season is that their two best players – guard Marcus Carr and center Liam Robbins – don't show up in those big games.

In their eight losses this season, Carr is just 36-for-104 (just 34.6 percent) from the field and just 13-for-50 (only 26 percent) from three. 

Robbins, the Gophers' standout transfer center, was just 1-for-8 in the Maryland loss and was fighting through an ankle injury. He was just 2-for-6 in the earlier loss to Maryland as well, and had stinkers against Iowa (3-for-10) and Michigan (2-for-9).

The encouraging sign for Indiana is that Minnesota hasn't won a Big Ten road game all year. That absolutely cannot change Wednesday night. 

It can't change Saturday, either. Michigan State is just 1-5 on the road this year, with the only win at cellar-dweller Nebraska.

It all adds up quite simply, doesn't it?

Indiana has to go 2-0 this week and then take it from there. They will be favorites in both games, and now it's up to them to play like it.