The Michigan State men’s basketball team hit the hardwood ahead of its trip to Madison Square Garden Thursday afternoon at the Breslin Center. They prepare to face Rutgers for the second time this season.
This time, the Spartans will be playing against their conference opponents in New York City.
This will be a first trip for some, but players returning from last year will remember their trip to the big apple just last year against Kansas during the champions classic.
During practice, MSU junior guard A.J. Hoggard and senior guard Tyson Walker opened up about what it is like returning to the Garden.
“It’s definitely something you live for,” Hoggard said. “We all know what the Garden means, if you watch the NBA all the guys try to play their best games at the Garden and we get the opportunity to in college.”
Although the Spartans would ultimately lose the game against Kansas, Hoggard had himself a pretty good night. Hoggard scored 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting but is looking to potentially have a bigger night.
Who has the advantage?
With this being the second matchup between the two teams and the first of the matchups being at MSU, one might wonder who will have “home advantage” when neither team is from New York.
Rutgers has a strong fan base and usually fills up the stands at the Jersey Mike’s Arena, Rutgers’s home arena. Coach Izzo said he expects Rutgers to have over 12,000 fans at the game on Saturday as MSG is much closer to Rutgers fans.
However, Michigan State does have some New York blood on its side in senior guard Tyson Walker.
“Being from New York you always want to play in MSG, and I get to play on the East Coast and have my family come to see me,” Walker said when asked about what it’s like returning home.
Walker also played at the Garden last year against the Jayhawks but did not have the best performance. Walker hopes to improve on that performance as he has played many stellar games in the city.
As a kid from New York, Walker isn’t too focused on the mystique of the arena they are playing at and is rather focused on improving his game and trying to get a win over Rutgers.
“Knowing that winning the game and losing the game both have a big effect on you,” said Walker. “We’ve both lost a couple of games in the last five so, just trying to play better.”
Final Thoughts
The Spartans are coming off a six-day break, not having played since Sunday, so they have a few things to work on before Saturday night.
Their last game was a tough one against Purdue and they ultimately fell to the Boilermakers thanks to 7’4 Zach Edey’s big night (38 Pts). As Walker mentioned, the Spartans have come short in a few of their last games and are hoping to win big in one of the biggest arenas in sports.
Not only are they hoping, but they need this game in order to keep a good position within the Big Ten standings. If the Spartans win this game, they could see themselves amongst the top-four teams in the conference, however, a loss on Saturday would have them sitting in a low spot.
There are some concerns still surrounding Malik Hall as he is still not 100%, coming off of his recent foot injury. This break between games hopefully has given him some valuable healing time.
Either way, the Spartans will need someone else to step up in a time of need. The Spartans need to come away with a couple of wins over this stretch of games. Coach Tom Izzo hopes that his team can become more aggressive and really get at these next few games.
When Walker was asked about his thoughts on Izzo’s talk of aggressiveness he said “it’s good to hear” and that he is looking to be aggressive whether it is on the scoring or passing end.
