• What: Michigan State vs. Kansas, Champions Classic
• When: 6:35 p.m. Tuesday
• Where: State Farm Center, Atlanta
• TV/Radio: ESPN/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; Sirius/XM Ch. 84 (MSU broadcast), 198 (Kansas broadcast)
• Records/Rankings: MSU is 2-0 and unranked. Kansas is 2-0 and ranked No. 1 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls.
• Betting line: Kansas by 5 1/2
• Coaches: Michigan State — Tom Izzo is 709-295 in his 30th season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Kansas — Bill Self is 812-248 in his 32nd season as a head coach, including 580-138 in 22 seasons with the JayHawks.
• Series: Kansas leads 8-7 all-time. The programs are 2-2 against each other in the Champions Classic. Their last meeting was in the 2021 Champions Classic, won by Kansas, 87-74, in New York.
Projected lineups
Michigan State
C (10) Szymon Zapala (7-0) 7.0
F (34) Xavier Booker (6-11) 5.5
G (8) Frankie Fidler (6-7) 10.0
G (3) Jaden Akins (6-4) 16.5
PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 5.0
Kansas
C (1) Hunter Dickinson (7-2) 11.0
F (24) KJ Adams (6-7) 10.5
G (6) Rylan Griffen (6-6) 5.5
G (8) David Coit (5-11) 4.0
G (3) Dajuan Harris Jr. (6-2) 8.0
• MSU update: The Spartans are coming off a 96-60 win over Niagara on Thursday. They are 5-8 all-time in the Champions Classic, which hasn’t been played in Atlanta since 2012, when MSU also faced Kansas, winning 67-64. The Spartans last won in the event two years ago, beating Kentucky in Indianapolis. This is MSU’s first game against a high-major opponent this season. Through two games against lower-tier competition, the Spartans’ numbers are fairly promising, other than shooting 25% from beyond the arc. MSU’s leading scorer, Jaden Akins, is the only player who’s started in a Champions Classic game before, though this is not a team that’s naive to the bright lights of this event. Five other members of MSU’s rotation played between 5 and 21 minutes in last season’s game and four prominent players on this year’s team played meaningful minutes two years ago.
MORE: Couch: Analyzing Michigan State basketball’s 2024-25 roster, player by player
• Kansas update: The Jayhawks hung on for a 92-89 home win over North Carolina on Friday night, in a game they led by 20 points late in the first half. I give the AP voters a lot of grief for their groupthink and lack of actual analysis, but Kansas is ranked No. 1 for good reason. Point guard Dajuan Harris, forward KJ Adams and center Hunter Dickinson have to be the best returning threesome in the country, and the Jayhawks added Wisconsin star AJ Storr and Alabama sharpshooter Rylan Griffen among their six transfers. That’s helped fix last year’s biggest weakness — outside shooting. Kansas is making nearly 40% of its 3-point shots through two games.
• Matchup analysis: This is a nasty matchup for the Spartans, but also a needed test. We’ll have a good idea where this MSU team stands, its strengths and weaknesses, and how different players handle this sort of setting and matchup. Dejuan Harris is arguably the best two-way pure point guard in the sport, a tough matchup for Jeremy Fears. KJ Adams isn’t an outside threat but will be a challenging matchup for the Spartans’ power forwards — Xavier Booker, Jaxon Kohler and Coen Carr. Izzo described Adams as “the key” to the Jayhawks. He’s quick and athletic on the block and uses his body well. As for Hunter Dickinson, well, you know the player. How Szymon Zapala, Carson Cooker and Kohler deal with him will be telling of MSU’s center position going forward. Offensively, we’re also going to find out if MSU has enough punch to keep pace. The Spartans will want to run, even if Kansas doesn’t mind a track meet. It’ll be interesting to see if Tom Izzo and his staff are willing to go smaller, with Kohler and Carr as the front court (perhaps their best lineup), against Dickinson. It’s worth a shot.
RELATED: Couch: For Jaden Akins, MSU’s new main man, judgment day arrives. ‘This is what you asked for.’
• Prediction: It’s hard for me to imagine MSU winning this game unless the 3-point shots start to fall in a big way. We’re going to find out how ready this group is to compete at a Final Four-type level. Because unlike some years when MSU has beaten what’s turned out to be a disappointing Kentucky or Duke team at the Champions Classic, this Kansas squad is unquestionably a legitimate contender.
• Make it: Kansas 83, MSU 74
— Graham Couch
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU vs. Kansas basketball: Prediction, preview, TV info, betting line
