EAST LANSING — One month into 2026, and one month from March Madness, Michigan State basketball finds itself in a familiar situation.
February Fluctuation.
Coming off last week’s frustrating home loss to No. 2 Michigan, the No. 10 Spartans head to Minnesota on Wednesday, Feb. 4 (7 p.m., Big Ten Network), with one thing in mind.
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“Just moving on,” junior Coen Carr said after practice Monday. “Just knowing what we did wrong and trying to fix it and then just looking ahead to the next game. There’s still a lot more games to be played, still a long season ahead.”
The Spartans (19-3, 9-2 Big Ten) will try and do that against the Gophers (10-12, 3-8) at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
Shake it off
Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo reacts to a play against Michigan during the second half at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
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Late January and early February always has been a grueling period of the season for Tom Izzo’s program, but also one that defines many of his championship teams.
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During Izzo’s last Final Four run, in 2019, MSU lost three straight in the final week of January and first week of February before ripping off a 7-1 finish for the Big Ten regular-season title. In their 2020 league championship run, the Spartans suffered a Jan. 23 loss at Indiana and back-to-back losses to Penn State and at Michigan to put their title hopes in jeopardy. But Cassius Winston and Xavier Tillman willed MSU to a 6-1 close to earn a share of a third straight Big Ten crown.
Then last season, the Spartans dropped three of four to open February – back-to-back games at USC and UCLA and a home loss to Indiana, with a comeback home win over Oregon sandwiched between. MSU went on to win its final seven games to finish 17-3 and win the Big Ten by three games.
That stretch last season immediately came to mind for Izzo following Friday’s 83-71 loss to the Wolverines, which ended the Spartans’ seven-game win streak. And Izzo made sure to bring up to his players that they must put the emotional loss to U-M behind them quickly.
“If you’d have won that game and lost this game [to Minnesota], your record’s the same,” Izzo said Monday. “We do talk to our players about that a lot. The advantage of playing in a league where there’s so many good teams is, every day is a new day.”
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Senior center Carson Cooper said the Spartans need the muscle memory they showed last year in shrugging off that swoon to finish the conference season strong again and compete for another Big Ten title. MSU enters this week tied for third with Nebraska, a game behind league-leading U-M and No. 6 Illinois, with games yet to play against both (including Saturday against the Illini at Breslin).
“Just about this time last year, we lost three out of four in this time of the year. And that was the time we really rallied together and made that big run and controlled our own destiny in winning the Big Ten last year,” Cooper said after practice Monday. “We brought that up and made sure all of the guys kind of understand this isn’t the point where we coast and stay solid. We’re still getting better at this point, and we’re still growing and continuing to play at a higher level than we were in the past.”
Jeremy Fears Jr. elite
Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) celebrates a play against Michigan during the second half at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
Jeremy Fears Jr. on Monday became the first MSU player to win back-to-back Big Ten player of the week awards since Winston did it on March 2 and 9, 2020. That came after the third-year sophomore earned the Spartans’ first weekly top player award since Aaron Henry on March 8, 2021.
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The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Fears is averaging 18.6 points and 8.3 assists over his past 10 games; that includes a 29-point game in an overtime win at Rutgers on Jan. 27 and Friday’s game against U-M in which he broke that career high with 31 points.
“When he’s taking 11, 12 shots, it’s a good thing. When you’re taking 20 shots, it’s a bad thing,” Izzo said of Fears. “But that’s not always his fault, either. Some of that falls on other guys and how they’re playing. What he has done a good job of is, when you score 29 points and still get nine assists [at Rutgers], that’s saying you’re doing a good job.”
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Monday also brought a midseason top-10 nod for Fears for the Bob Cousy Award (given annually to the nation’s top point guard). Fears leads MSU at 14.9 points, and his 8.8 assists a game rank second nationally just behind Purdue’s Braden Smith (8.9). Fears’ 3.94 assist-to-turnover ratio is fifth nationally and second in the Big Ten behind only Nebraska’s Division-I leading Sam Hoiberg (5.88). Fears also is shooting 45.2% overall and 89.5% on free throws.
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“He’s done a good job of going to the hole and a good job of getting fouled,” Izzo said. “But keeping other people involved is [good], too. … I think he’s doing both things, as long as he keeps playing defense. We’re trying to find the happy medium in there, there’s no question about it.”
Minnesota update
Jan 24, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Niko Medved looks on during the second half against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Gophers, under first-year coach Niko Medved, have lost seven straight, including, most recently, a 77-75 loss at Penn State, which had been winless in Big Ten play until Sunday. That slump came after winning three of four to open conference play, with home wins over then-ranked Indiana and Iowa along with a road win at Northwestern.
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Senior swingman Cade Tyson, a 6-7 transfer from North Carolina who spent his first two seasons at Belmont, leads Minnesota at 19.9 points a game in his 35.5 minutes. He was questionable for the loss to the Nittany Lions but scored 17 points on just 3-for-8 shooting but went 11-for-12 on free throws.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, a 6-8, 240-pound junior forward who Izzo called “a defensive tackle who is tougher than nails,” averages 13.4 points and 6.9 rebounds but also can step out, shooting 31.6% from 3-point range. Guards Langston Reynolds (11 points, 4.5 rebounds) and Isaac Asuma (10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists) anchor the backcourt for Medved, who returned to his alma mater after spending the past seven seasons at Colorado State following stops at Drake and Furman.
Medved only goes about seven deep after season-ending injuries to point guard Chansey Willis Jr. (foot) and forward Robert Vaihola (knee). Willis, who began his career at Saginaw Valley and Henry Ford College, is a Detroit King product who led the MAC in scoring last season as a freshman (16.8) for Western Michigan.
Michigan State vs Minnesota basketball prediction
The Spartans use their depth and Fears’ penchant to push the pace in order to get out to a big lead early and wear down the Gophers from there. Expect MSU to try and get Jaxon Kohler and Cooper back on track on the block heading into a tough six-game stretch ahead. The pick: MSU 82, Minnesota 67.
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Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball prediction vs Minnesota after Michigan loss
