• What: Michigan State vs. Northern Iowa
• When: 7 p.m. Friday
• Where: Breslin Center
• TV/Radio: FS1/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; SiriusXM Ch. 83 (MSU broadcast)
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• Records/Rankings: MSU is 3-0 and entered the week ranked No. 5 in both the preseason Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. Northern Iowa is 2-1 and unranked.
• Betting line: MSU -29.5
• Coaches: Michigan State — Tom Izzo is 766-309 in his 32nd season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Northern Iowa — Kyle Green is 2-1 in his first season as a Division I head coach. He’s previously been the head coach at Western State, Lewis and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
• Series: MSU and Northern Iowa have only met once before — in the 2010 Sweet 16, a game the Spartans won 59-52.
Projected lineups
MSU
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C (15) Anton Bonke (7-2) 7.3
PF (55) Coen Carr (6-6) 10.3
SF (6) Jordan Scott (6-8) 9.3
SG (25) Jasiah Jervis (6-4) 10.0
PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 14.3
Northern Iowa
C (35) Ian Smikle (6-9) 3.0
PF (31) Isaiah Johnson-Arigu (6-7) 15.3
SF (3) Tate McCubbin (6-8) 10.3
SG (8) Carson Vis (6-4) 17.3
PG (1) Greyson Uelmen (6-3) 19.7
• MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a statement win over Duke on Tuesday in the Champions Classic, a 79-73 wire-to-wire win in Chicago that elevated this MSU team’s profile nationally, and for good reason. Now MSU dips back into mid-major competition for a night against Northern Iowa, before playing at Tennessee next Tuesday. It’s a small sample size, but the Spartans are No. 3 nationally in defensive efficiency and No. 12 in offensive efficiency, per Kenpom, through three games. Jeremy Fears Jr.’s 10.3 assist per game are second-most nationally and is the highest average among players who’ve played at least three games. Jordan Scott, who had six blocks against the Blue Devils, leads the Big Ten at 2.7 blocked shots per game.
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• Northern Iowa update: The Panthers have wins so far over Green Bay (89-76 on Tuesday) and non-Division I Cornell College to open the season, along with a road loss at Furman (98-83) in between. Shooting guard Carson Vis, a transfer from Western Michigan, is making 47% of his 3s (8-for-17) as Northern Iowa’s second-leading scorer. Point guard Greyson Uelmen, a transfer from North Dakota, leads the Panthers in scoring, but his assist-to-turnover percentage is just 3-to-2 with 12 assists and eight turnovers on the season. This is Northern Iowa’s first season since 2006 without Ben Jacobson at the helm. Jacobson left after 20 years to be the head coach at Utah State. Kyle Green, most recently an assistant at Iowa State, takes over the program he served as an assistant coach from 2012 to 2021.
• Matchup analysis: Most of Northern Iowa’s strengths are on the offensive end. Maybe all of them. The Panthers are top 30 in effective field goal percentage through three games, and 300th in effective field goal percentage defense. That’s a bit of a surprise and speaks to the Panthers’ personnel, given that head coach Kyle Green, as an assistant coach, was partly behind Iowa State’s aggressive and disruptive defense in recent years.
I think this is probably a Panthers team that’ll finish in the upper half of the Missouri Valley Conference, which remains a quality mid-major league. Northern Iowa has length at the guard and forward spots that’ll help this season, including a nice pairing at forward in Tate McCubbin and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu. Both can stretch a defense and I think McCubbin will score from deep at some volume, though he’s only 5-for-17 from beyond the arc so far.
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The Spartans will have the edge at center. I’m guessing MSU continues to start Anton Bonke. It’s a good way to make sure he’s involved and see if each game is a matchup for him and a night he’s locked in. That said, with only so many minutes to go around, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jesse McCulloch take over that role at some point, rather than coming off the bench. Ethan Taylor will likely be part of the center rotation regardless, with power forward Cam Ward also grabbing several minutes at the 5 spot.
RELATED: Analyzing Michigan State basketball’s 2026-27 roster, player by player, as the season begins
• Prediction: Offensive-minded mid-majors like Northern Iowa and Toledo are terrific matchups for MSU, and smart scheduling. These will be decent wins on the resume, but also come with almost zero threat of an upset, given style of play and strengths and weaknesses. Northern Iowa is capable of shooting it well enough to hang in there for a while. But the Spartans ought to be able to rebound and run, and that kills the chances of this being dicey late.
• Make it: MSU 88, Northern Iowa 70
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Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
— Graham Couch
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State basketball vs. Northern Iowa Tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
