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Michigan State basketball vs. Brown tipoff: Matchup analysis and a prediction

graham couch, lansing state journal
·4 min read
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Brown senior Paxson Wojcik, averaging 12.8 points, is the son of MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik.
Brown senior Paxson Wojcik, averaging 12.8 points, is the son of MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik.

• What: Michigan State at Brown

• When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday

• Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing

• TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 195 (MSU broadcast)

• Records/Rankings: MSU is 6-4 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten and unranked. Brown is 6-4 overall and yet to play a game in the Ivy League this season.

• Betting line: MSU -16

• Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 672-271 in his 28th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Brown — Mike Martin is 127-144 in his 10th season as a head coach, all with the Bears.

• Series: MSU won the only previous meeting, 16 years ago, beating Brown 45-34 (yes, that's the correct score) on Nov. 8, 2006.

Lineups

MSU

C (22) Mady Sissoko (6-9) 7.2

PF (10) Joey Hauser (6-9) 13.1

G (3) Jaden Akins (6-4) 6.2

G (2) Tyson Walker (6-1) 14.4

PG (11) AJ Hoggard (6-4) 12.7

Brown

F (15) Kalu Anya (6-8) 8.3

F (11) Malachi Ndur (6-8) 3.2

G (21) Aaron Cooley (6-5) 4.7

G (0) Paxson Wojcik (6-5) 12.8

G (10) Kino Lilly Jr. (6-0) 15.9

MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik talks with MSU center Mady Sissoko last Sunday. Wojcik will coach against his son Paxson when Brown visits MSU on Saturday.
MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik talks with MSU center Mady Sissoko last Sunday. Wojcik will coach against his son Paxson when Brown visits MSU on Saturday.

• MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a 67-58 win at Penn State on Wednesday night that stopped a two-game losing streak and changed the vibe around the Spartans significantly. MSU finished a grueling nine-game stretch at 5-4 and gets out of the teeth of its early season schedule at 6-4 overall, including 1-1 in the Big Ten. Now the Spartans play just three games over the next three weeks, including 10 days between games against Brown and Oakland (Dec. 21), and won’t play on the road again until Jan. 10.  MSU is hoping to have Malik Hall back from injury by the end of the month, before the Big Ten schedule picks up again, and should also add Keon Coleman and, perhaps, Malik Carr from the football team sometime in the coming weeks.

MORE: Couch: After a critical win at Penn State, what to make of this Michigan State team and its point guard

• Brown update: The Bears have won five straight games, including a 59-58 win at Rhode Island on Wednesday. This game is happening because Brown senior and second-leading scorer Paxson Wojcik is the son of MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik, who did the Spartans' scouting report for this matchup. Paxson, a 6-foot-5 guard, played his first two seasons at Loyola in Chicago before transferring to Brown. He’s scored 17 or more points in three games this season and also grabbed double-digit rebounds three times. Brown, based in Providence, Rhode Island, last won the Ivy League in 1986. That was also the Bears' most recent NCAA tournament appearance. They did reach the NIT in 2003. Brown finished 13-16 last season, including 5-9 in the Ivy League, though they put a scare into North Carolina on the road early last season, losing 94-87. This is the Bears’ first power-conference opponent of this season, though Rhode Island plays in the Atlantic 10, which is a high mid-major league.

Brown's Paxson Wojcik is the son of MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik.
Brown's Paxson Wojcik is the son of MSU assistant coach Doug Wojcik.

• Inside the matchup: MSU would be wise to not exhale too loudly heading into a lighter stretch. A slip up here against Brown would quickly ruin an improved vibe. The Bears have a terrific sophomore guard in Kino Lilly Jr., who’s not only their best long-range shooter but he can get downhill and is a strong scorer at the rim. Paxson Wojcik, the team’s vocal leader, is also a capable 3-point shooter, above 36% on the season. Sophomore Nana Owusu-Anane, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound sophomore, doesn’t start, but he’s Brown’s best big man, averaging 10 points and better than seven rebounds. Brown is one of the worst offensive teams in college basketball, per Kenpom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric (points per 100 possessions). They’re also the worst free-throw shooting team in the country at 55.4%. They haven't scored more than 72 points in a game all season. Of course, MSU hasn't cracked 80 points in regulation yet, either.

• Prediction: This is a game the Spartans should win without any late-game stress, which would be a first for MSU since its opener against Northern Arizona. The Spartans are far from an offensive juggernaut, but I don’t think Brown has the horses offensively to keep pace.

• Make it: MSU 75, Brown 61

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU basketball vs. Brown: Prediction, preview, tv info, betting line