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No. 6 Michigan State has one more opportunity to test the waters against a live opponent before the games start counting.
The Spartans have played two of their three exhibition games this year. MSU first beat Incarnate Word 89-59 back on Nov. 2 and fell to No. 4 UConn 78-70 this past Tuesday. Both of those games were at the Breslin Center. This exhibition against Marquette will be the first look at Michigan State on the road in a hostile environment. Here's how you can watch.
Tipoff: Sunday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT/local)
Location: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (also home of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks)
Streaming: Available for FREE on YouTube | LINK PROVIDED HERE
Marquette is an interesting team to schedule a road exhibition game with. The Golden Eagles probably aren't an opponent of Connecticut's caliber, but they're more than capable of giving MSU a push. Marquette is 34th overall in KenPom's preseason rankings and received three votes to be ranked in the preseason AP Poll (equivalent to being ranked 40th).
One major storyline is the status of the Spartans' star and All-American point guard, Jeremy Fears Jr. He suffered an apparent ankle injury during the second half of the UConn exhibition. Tom Izzo and the team still allowed him to play on it after an initial examination on the bench, but Fears left the game with seconds left with a limp.
"I was a little concerned (on Wednesday), but he bounced back (on Thursday)," Izzo said about Fears' injury this week. "He went through half a practice; I just didn't let him go live. I think he'll be at 90%, anyway. If he's not and is at 85 or 80%, I'm not playing him, but I don't see that being a problem."
A lot of the value of this exhibition probably requires Fears to be available. The Connecticut exhibition was probably Michigan State's first "dress rehearsal" where the lineups felt like ones MSU would use in real games. So many of those lineups ultimately revolve around Fears, so not having him available with a minor ankle injury that will heal up by the time Quinnipiac and Nov. 2 roll around would just be a bummer.
Carlos Medock Jr. and Jasiah Jervis could get some needed live point guard reps if Fears were out, but that's really the extent of the benefits.
Center is the other place to keep an eye on for this one. Starter Anton Bonke has really struggled thus far and was benched during the second half against UConn. This has also coincided with Ethan Taylor and Jesse McCulloch both looking like pleasant surprises up to this point.