Michigan State prepares for trip out west to play Washington and Oregon

The Michigan State men’s basketball team rides a three-game winning streak as it departs for a trip to the Pacific Northwest.

The Spartans will visit Washington on Saturday and Oregon on Tuesday.

Last season during the program's trip out west, Michigan State finished 0-2 versus UCLA and USC. This year, MSU head coach Tom Izzo stresses that he wants this trip to be different than last year's, obviously, especially when it comes to the results of the contests.

“Last year we were 0-2,” Izzo said. “If you asked me what we want to do differently, I would say, ‘Well, try to win two games.’”

During the Spartans' win over Indiana on Tuesday, senior forward Jaxon Kohler extended his good stretch of basketball with a 16-point, 10-rebound performance.

Even with averaging a double-double for Michigan State, Izzo thinks that he needs to get Kohler more touches throughout the flow of a game.

“I give teams credit; they have done a good job of doubling the post, trying to take him away in there," Izzo said about Kohler. “When they do that, it leaves somebody else. (open). His shots might go down a little bit, somebody else's will come up. I do want to give Jaxon (Kohler) a lot more touches. Thank God he is a good offensive rebounder, a pretty good passer, too. He has done a hell of a job for us. My biggest concern is those damn turnovers. I want to get 60 shots up, and we have been down in the low 50s. We have been getting to the free-throw line more, which is a positive, but that also gets you fewer shots. So if you see Jaxon getting eight shots or six shots, it is not always what it seems.”