Michigan State basketball at Battle 4 Atlantis tipoff: Matchups, analysis, prediction

• What: Michigan State vs. Loyola Chicago

• When: Noon Wednesday

• Where: Imperial Arena, Paradise Island, Bahamas

• TV/Radio: ESPN/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 372

• Records/Rankings: MSU is 3-1 after an 83-59 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Loyola is 4-0 after an 80-63 win over Illinois-Chicago. Both teams are unranked.

• Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 646-255 in his 27th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Loyola — Drew Valentine is 4-0 in his first season as a head coach.

• Series: MSU leads 10-2 all-time, with the team teams last meeting seven years ago at Breslin Center, which MSU won 87-52. The two programs have played four times since 2000, with the Spartans winning all of them. Before that, they hadn't met since 1940.

Lineups

MSU

C (30) Marcus Bingham Jr. (7-0) 12.8

PF (20) Joey Hauser (6-9) 7.3

SF (44) Gabe Brown (6-8) 14.0

SG (1) Max Christie (6-6) 11.5

PG (0) Tyson Walker (6-0) 5.0

Loyola

C (22) Jacob Hutson (6-10) 6.5

F (30) Aher Uguak (6-7) 13.5

G (1) Lucas Williamson (6-4) 10.8

G (12) Marquise Kennedy (6-1) 7.8

G (4) Braden Norris (6-0) 9.8

• MSU update: The Spartans begin three games in three days in the Bahamas coming off three straight wins. This is MSU’s first destination tournament since playing in the Maui Invitational two years ago. The Spartans last played in the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2016. Center Marcus Bingham Jr. is the story of MSU’s young season, becoming a legitimate presence in the paint and producing four double-digit scoring games after having none a season ago. He also leads the Big Ten in blocked shots, averaging 4 per game, and is also among the league’s leaders in steals, at 1.8 per outing. Where MSU is struggling is shooting from long range. Through 80 3-point attempts, the Spartans are shooting less than 29%. A lot of that number is from three shooters who are expected to find their stroke eventually — Gabe Brown, Max Christie and Joey Hauser — who are a combined 16-for-52 from beyond the arc (.307).

MORE:  Couch: At Butler, for the first time you could see it – how Michigan State might be really good

• Loyola update: Lansing's Drew Valentine is yet to lose as a head coach. The Ramblers also haven’t played anyone yet of the caliber of MSU. Nor have they played away from the north side of Chicago. Loyola, through four games, has beaten Coppin State, Florida Gulf-Coast, Chicago State and Illinois-Chicago — and beaten them all soundly. Valentine’s first job as Loyola’s head coach was to convince as much of the roster as he could to return. He did a nice job of that. The Ramblers’ rotation includes four super seniors, back for their pandemic-allowed extra year of eligibility, and back from a team that won the Missouri Valley Conference last season and upset top-seeded Illinois to reach the Sweet 16. It’s another senior, 6-foot-7 Princeton transfer Ryan Schwieger, who leads Loyola in scoring so far at 14.8 points per game, coming off the bench. While the Spartans have struggled with the 3-point shot, the Ramblers are making better than 45% of their long-range shots, with five different players having made more than seven 3-pointers already.

MORE:  How Lansing's Drew Valentine became Loyola Chicago's head coach at 29

• Inside the matchup: This isn’t the first highly experienced team the Spartans have faced this season. The difference between Butler and Loyola is that Loyola’s experience is winning experience. Lucas Williamson, who first burst onto the scene with the 2018 Final Four team, is perhaps the best defender MSU’s wings will have faced yet. Braden Norris, a transfer from Oakland two years ago, and Marquise Kennedy, complete a seasoned and strong backcourt. Schwieger is a skilled forward off the bench. Where Loyola is weaker than a year ago is at the center position, where it lost Cameron Krutwig, the sort of post player you can run an offensive through. I think this is MSU’s biggest advantage, with Bingham in the paint and collectively on the glass. This game, however, will be a test of MSU’s 3-point defense and how it defends a connected and veteran team that believes it can beat the Spartans. 

• A look at MSU's Battle 4 Atlantis draw and path: If MSU gets past Loyola — and that’s a considerable if — it’ll play the winner of UConn and Auburn at noon on Thanksgiving. If the Spartans lose to the Ramblers, they’ll play the loser of the UConn-Auburn game at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. UConn and Auburn are two ranked teams that haven’t played this level of competition yet. Syracuse, VCU, defending national champion Baylor and Arizona State are on the other side of the bracket, with sixth-ranked Baylor the most likely to emerge. MSU will play one of those four teams on Friday. This is a strong field and, for MSU, a good test for a team that’s found its footing since a rough opener against Kansas, but hasn’t faced much adversity since.

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• Prediction: I like this Loyola team quite a bit. They’re more reliant on the outside shot than a year ago, so far at least. The Ramblers haven’t seen a formidable defense yet, though. If MSU is the best of itself — if Brown and Christie hit shots and Bingham keeps being a presence inside — I think the Spartans win this game. It’s a matter of whether that happens. 

Make it: MSU 78, Loyola 74

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