The USC Trojans know they have their work cut out for them this week. They entered the NCAA Tournament field as a 10 seed and got a first-round matchup against Michigan State. USC lost early in the Pac-12 Tournament to Arizona State, who got into the field as a First Four team.
Robert Bondy of Spartans Wire likes this matchup for Michigan State. This pairing could sell trouble for USC and Andy Enfield, who will try to avoid another first-round exit:
“Michigan State will open the NCAA Tournament with a battle against a future Big Ten peer, the USC Trojans,” Bondy wrote. “The Spartans should enter this game as the favorite and should win this matchup if they get strong guard play and continue to shoot the ball well from outside. I personally like this draw for the Spartans. While nothing is easy in March, this is a game Michigan State fans should expect their team to pick up the victory.”
The Spartans did just lose to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament last Friday, but the Tyson Walker-Joey Hauser duo is a tough one to handle for many teams in the country. USC hopes to find solutions other MSU opponents have lacked.
It is true that USC has won five of its last seven games, but there are plenty of questions coming into this matchup for both teams. USC’s spotty play against Arizona State last week makes it hard to think the Trojans can knock Tom Izzo out of the Big Dance.
Be sure to listen to our USC-Michigan State podcast with Spartans Wire editor Andrew Brewster, below:
[mm-video type=video id=01gvk1rsa7p8tqt813pc playlist_id=none player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gvk1rsa7p8tqt813pc/01gvk1rsa7p8tqt813pc-c1e47b512ddb41777c5060a46fb465c6.jpg]
[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696090378]