Michigan State basketball at Butler tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction

• What: Michigan State at Butler

• When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

• Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

• TV/Radio: FS1/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 382 (MSU broadcast)

• Records/Rankings: MSU is 1-1 after a 90-46 win over Western Michigan on Friday. Butler is 3-0 after a 70-59 win over Troy on Saturday. Both teams are unranked.

• Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 643-255 in his 27th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Butler — LaVall Jordan is 83-79 in his sixth season as a head coach, including 72-55 in his fifth season will the Bulldogs.

• Series: MSU leads 10-5 all time. This is the first meeting since Butler's 52-50 win over the Spartans in the 2010 Final Four. It's the first scheduled meeting, however, in 50 years. Since December of 1971 to be exact, which was also MSU's last game at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The great Mike Robinson led the Spartans in scoring in that win.

• Betting line: MSU 2.5

Lineups

MSU

C (30) Marcus Bingham Jr. (7-0) 11.0

PF (20) Joey Hauser (6-9) 10.0

SF (44) Gabe Brown (6-8) 13.5

SG (1) Max Christie (6-6) 7.5

PG (0) Tyson Walker (6-0) 5.5

Butler

C (33) Bryce Golden (6-9) 5.0

F (10) Bryce Nze (6-7) 8.3

G (13) Jayden Taylor (6-4) 13.3

G (3) Chuck Harris (6-2) 15.7

G (2) Aaron Thompson (6-2) 10.4 (in 2020-21)

• MSU update: The Spartans, coming off a 90-46 home win over Western Michigan, are set to play their first true road game since March 3, 2020, and at a venue they haven’t visited since Dec. 20, 1971. Granted, until the last decade, Butler was a mid-major program and thus, in modern times, the Spartans were less likely to play there. Still, the entire Jud Heathcote era of MSU basketball and a quarter-century of Tom Izzo somehow didn’t include a trip to one of the most famed and coolest arenas in sport. The Spartans through two games are led in scoring by senior Gabe Brown — born 13 years after the release of the film "Hoosiers," which used Hinkle to film its state championship game — and, surprisingly, Marcus Bingham Jr., who’s been more than solid at the center position. MSU freshman Max Christie, who could wind up as the Spartans’ leading scorer, is off to a rough start shooting the ball, just 5-for-18 from the floor and 3-for-10 from beyond the arc.

• Butler update: The Bulldogs are old, which is often how programs like theirs win in major college basketball. Butler has five fifth-year or graduate seniors and two more fourth-year players on their roster, with four players taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility for which the pandemic allowed. One of those players is starting point guard Aaron Thompson, who missed half of last year due to injury (which derailed Butler’s season) and the first three games of this season due to suspension. He’s expected to make his season debut against the Spartans. Butler was 4-7 last season without him. Sophomore Chuck Harris, Butler’s leading scorer last year and so far this season, will move back to shooting guard, with 6-6 freshman Simas Lukosius perhaps coming off the bench. The Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer, sixth-year senior Jair Bolden, also comes off the bench, averaging 14.3 points per game through three games (and shooting 10-for-17 from 3), as does 6-foot-8 guard and Eastern Michigan transfer Ty Groce, another sixth-year player.

• Inside the matchup: The return of Thompson makes Butler’s first three games almost useless as a scouting report. He’s their point guard and a big part of who the Bulldogs will be this season. He’ll be a chore for Tyson Walker and AJ Hoggard on Wednesday night. Butler thus far is shooting 48% from the floor and 40% from beyond the arc, but this is a step up in competition for them. Butler’s offense lives by the pick and roll and its big men can stretch defenses with their shooting, though it’s a guard-reliant offense. The Spartans should have advantages in the paint against this Bulldogs team. Any advantages elsewhere are really up to how well Christie, Brown, Walker and Hoggard play.

MORE: Couch: Predicting MSU's entire basketball season, game by game

• Prediction: It’s unclear how good Butler is this year. The Bulldogs haven’t played a high-major opponent yet and they weren’t very good last season. That, however, might have had a lot to do with their injury situation. This is what we know: They’re a seasoned roster and they’re playing at home in front of what’ll be a packed Hinkle Fieldhouse. This will be a better barometer of MSU’s team than Kansas was, because the Spartans have had couple games to get their feet under them and they’re going to face the natural adversity of an opposing crowd.

Make it: MSU 76, Butler 70

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

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball at Butler: Prediction, preview, how to bet, TV info