The IU men’s basketball program is in the midst of its longest losing streak in eight years.
The Hoosiers’ current seven-game losing streak comes nearly a decade after IU lost nine consecutive games to close the 2010-11 season.
Next up for IU is a Saturday night game at No. 6 Michigan State, one of the favorites to win the Big Ten Conference and a team with a perfect 10-0 home record this season.
Before the Hoosiers and Spartans tip off at the Breslin Student Events Center this weekend, here are three things to know about the game.
1. The Hoosiers' defensive focus will be on Michigan State junior guard Cassius Winston.
IU has had to try and defend some of the best guards in college basketball already this season, from Marquette University’s Markus Howard to Purdue’s Carsen Edwards. Michigan State’s Cassius Winston will be no exception.
Winston has played in all 21 games this season for the Spartans and is the team leader in points per game with 18.5, assists per game with 7.3 and steals per game with 1.1.
“Cassius Winston is probably as good as it gets in college basketball right now in terms of running the team,” Miller said. “They’re getting unbelievable production from a lot of different guys.”
The Detroit native also leads Michigan State with more than 32 minutes played per game, meaning IU won’t often get a respite from his on-court effectiveness as a scorer and distributor.
A more direct comparison between the play of Winston and IU’s freshmen guards, Romeo Langford and Rob Phinisee, comes from their 3-point shooting statistics. Winston makes more than 45 percent of his 3-pointers for the season, while Langford shoots a dismal 23.1 percent and Phinisee is at 38.5 percent.
IU will get help in the distance shooting department this weekend though, with the return of junior guard Devonte Green from suspension. Green did not play in IU’s last three games.
2. Michigan State and IU have trended in opposite offensive directions during conference play.
Both the Hoosiers and Spartans have played 10 Big Ten games so far, but at the midway point of conference play the two teams have vastly different offensive showings.
Michigan State has scored 70 or more points in eight conference games, while IU has reached that point total in just two contests.
Unsurprisingly, this has played a key role in the teams’ differing conference records — a 9-1 mark for Michigan State and a 3-7 one for IU.
“A couple times people will be wide open and just pass it up just because they’re like, ‘Aw, I’m not going to take this shot,’” senior forward Juwan Morgan said. “I tell them all the time, ‘You put in the work to be here to take those shots, and we all trust you to take it.’”
This in particular applies to the outside shooting for IU, as the Hoosiers are a conference-worst 25.3 percent on three-pointers in Big Ten games.
3. The ESPN show “College GameDay” will be in East Lansing, Michigan, for the game.
For just the third time, IU will play a game with the ESPN program “College GameDay” on-site. A spin-off of ESPN’s popular college football pregame show of the same name, the college basketball version debuted in January 2005 and has visited Bloomington twice.
The show was at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a pair of IU wins, against Michigan State in 2008 and against Michigan in 2013. Saturday will be the first time IU is the road team in a matchup visited by “College GameDay.”
With the game scheduled for a 6 p.m. start and set to be broadcast on ESPN, it marks another big-time, nationally televised game for the Hoosiers.
Chances to score significant road wins earlier this season against Duke University, Michigan and Purdue all fell flat, with IU losing those three games by an average of nearly 16 points.
But Saturday marks the latest chance for Miller and his team to stabilize their season with a victory sure to boost their NCAA Tournament qualifications.
