No. 9 Michigan State basketball pick, prediction vs No. 13 Nebraska

EAST LANSING – Coen Carr knows the road to a repeat as Big Ten champs requires Michigan State basketball to thrive away from home.

“We gotta fight hard to steal some of these away games,” Carr said after practice Wednesday, Dec. 31.

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The ninth-ranked Spartans get their second road test – and their toughest yet – when they visit sizzing No. 13 Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln on Friday (9 p.m,, Peacock/online only).

Michigan State’s head coach Tom Izzo, left, shakes hands with Nebraska’s head coach Fred Hoiberg after the game on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

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En route to Tom Izzo’s 11th regular-season championship a year ago, MSU (12-1, 2-0) went 8-2 in Big Ten road games. The Spartans won the conference title by three games for Izzo’s fifth outright title – but just the third by multiple games: MSU won it by four games in 2009 and three games in 1999.

That shows just how difficult the path to repeating can be.

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“If you’ve done something before, that’s experience,” Izzo said Wednesday. “It matters more than people think.”

Here’s a look at the challenge ahead for MSU against the Cornhuskers (13-0, 2-0), who are off to their best start in program history.

Tough spot

EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – DECEMBER 7: Jeremy Fears Jr. #1 of the Michigan State Spartans drives to the basket and draws a foul on Andrew Morgan #23 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Breslin Center on December 7, 2024 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

Jeremy Fears Jr. learned quickly how difficult it can be at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

In his first year at MSU, the trip to Nebraska was one of the two Big Ten games the point guard played in before he missed the rest of his freshman season with a gunshot wound. But what he experienced in that 77-70 loss, in which the Huskers closed out the Spartans with a 10-3…

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Publish date : 2026-01-02 10:07:00

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