The Michigan State Spartans play host to an in-state foe when the Oakland Golden Grizzlies come to town on Wednesday night. Oakland has struggled this season to put it lightly, having lost seven games in a row coming into this one. For the Spartans, up and down is the best way to describe how their season has gone but with back-to-back wins coming into this one, confidence could be growing. Last season, Michigan State won by 12 at home, the closest meeting over the last handful of years, though Oakland will be hard-pressed to come that close again.
The Golden Grizzlies have been a contender in the Horizon league the last few seasons but unfortunately for them, the 2022-2023 season has been a difficult one for this group. As mentioned earlier, seven losses in a row are tough to navigate and with the schedule being easy so far, it's difficult to imagine them finding success in this one. The Spartans will be far and away the best team that the Grizzlies will see this season, which is certain to be daunting heading into Wednesday night. Adding in that Oakland is 0-8 away from home, there's little reason to believe that they'll grab that first win in this one.
While it seems to be a long shot that it'll matter in this one, Oakland expects to be fully healthy coming into this one. This group will need any advantage that they can get in this one and simply having their full complement of players could be instrumental towards them hanging around in this one.
The non-conference portion of the schedule comes to a close Wednesday. https://t.co/ajG2V26jwl
— Oakland Basketball (@OaklandMBB) December 20, 2022
Oakland has struggled on both sides of the ball without a doubt, though their defense continues to hold them back. The Golden Grizzlies come into this one as one of the worst defensive teams in the country, with things unlikely to improve in the non-conference finale. They rank 355th nationally in scoring defense and their struggles on the perimeter could see them chasing this one early. Trey Townsend (18.3 ppg) has led the way in the early-going but until a second consistent scorer can emerge, as well as step up on the defensive end, games will continue to not go their way.