The day is finally here, with Michigan State returning to action in the NCAA Tournament. Coming into the 2026 edition of March Madness as a No. 3 seed, it is the 28th consecutive trip for the Spartans in the big dance. The festivities will open around 4:05 p.m. when the Spartans square off with the No. 14 seed North Dakota State Bison.
Michigan State is looking to squander a poor taste in their mouth after losing in their opening game of the Big Ten Tournament and are seeking to gain momentum in this tournament with a big first win over the Bison.
While the Spartans are a 16.5-point favorite in this game, and a No. 3 seed expects to beat a No. 14 seed, anything is possible in the NCAA Tournament, as MSU knows all too well from a decade ago. So, Michigan State is going to have to come into this game playing their best basketball and get ready for a game NDSU team.
For the Spartans to knock off the Summit League's regular season and conference champions, we have put together three keys to victory:
1. Offensive efficiency
How to avoid an upset? Play strong offense. Most teams that suffer an upset, suffer from poor offensive efficiency. The Bison rank 237th in adjusted tempo, meaning that they are going to want to slow this game down. Slowing the game down means fewer offensive possessions, which shows the importance of the Spartans offensive efficiency.
The Bison only rank No. 124 on KenPom for defensive efficiency, so there is a window for the Spartans to exploit the Bison, but it will be on Jeremy Fears leading this team to strong offensive sets, and avoiding turnovers.
2. Defend the perimeter
Another quality for a team pulling off an upset centers around three-point shooting. If a team gets hot from three, a ball game is certainly going to break out.
North Dakota State runs a seven or maybe eight-man rotation, and within that rotation, six guys shoot between 36 and 38% from three-point land, meaning there are more than likely going to be at least four shooters on the court at all times.
It truthfully has not been a strength of MSU lately, as evident by UCLA, that the Spartans are not defending the three-point line at a quality level. If the Spartans want to avoid this being a scary, competitive ball game, defending the three-point line is going to be the most important aspect of the defensive end.
3. Rebounding
This can be said a lot about Tom Izzo teams, but Michigan State is going to have to dominate the glass in the fashion that they are able to in this game. By the numbers, NDSU rebounds well, ranking 17th in defensive rebounding percentage and 75th in offensive rebounding percentage, but the Spartans hold a key advantage in this game.
North Dakota State sports two 6-foot-10 guys in their rotation, but seldomly do they play on the floor at the same time. After their two bigs, the tallest player on the court for the Bison will be 6-foot-5, with the rest standing at 6-foot-3 or shorter.
The Spartans hold a distinct size advantage in this game, especially on the wings, and the team is going to have to use this advantage to tip the rebounding scales massively in their favor. This can aid both their offensive and defensive efficiencies in this game.
This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Three keys to victory for Michigan State to defeat North Dakota State