The Michigan State Spartans came into the season with a Top Ten ranking and high expectations, but have been a pretty big disappointment. Tom Izzo’s squad needs to start winning some games in a hurry or they will find themselves on the outside looking in come March and that will be a huge failure with a talent like Miles Bridges on the roster. They can only lose a couple games the rest of the way and still get an at-large berth, making their game with the rival Michigan Wolverines of massive importance.
This was on the floor will go down Sunday, January 29, 2017, at 1 p.m. ET at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center. This game will be televised live on CBS. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Sunday schedule.
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Michigan State has lost three in a row and four of its last five both straight up and against the number. The Spartans were a short dog in each of those last three and hung in there, but just couldn’t get enough done to pull out the win. Perhaps surprisingly, the over has hit in four straight Michigan State games and is 4-0 overall in MSU road games.
The Wolverines have a losing record in Big Ten play, but are still in decent shape for the Big Dance thanks to some crucial out-of-conference wins. They have covered two in a row after a spell in which they failed to cover in six straight and have played a ton of over games. Eight of Michigan’s last ten have finished above the total.
Player to Watch
Bridges has been somewhat erratic, but is the most talented player on this team and it’s a shame that what might be his lone season in college could be wasted. He leads the team in points and rebounds, averaging a 16 and 8 a night, and has also been a high percentage shooter, knocking down 50 percent of his field goals and over 42 percent of his three-point attempts.
In the 11-point loss to Purdue on Tuesday, Bridges looked like a man possessed and dominated what is supposed to be a stout Boilermakers defense. He ended up going 12 of 17 from the floor, and knocked down 5 of his 8 threes, on his way to his first 30-point game of his career. Don’t read into the team’s 6-1 record without him in the line-up as they only played one real team during that timeframe.
Key Stat
Michigan’s main concern this season has been a well below average effort on defense. The Wolverines slow the game down and thus limit possessions, but teams have sunk a high percentage of shots against them this year.
The Wolverines are allowing teams to hit 46.8 percent of their shots on the season, one of the worst totals of any team in major conference basketball. To make matters worse, opposing players have hit 41.8 percent of their three-pointers against Michigan, and that has led to this team losing three conference games outright in which it was favored.
Michigan State has been a solid perimeter shooting team this season and might be able to make the Wolverines pay. Bridges, Eron Harris, and Joshua Langford are all sinking a good percentage of their opportunities so look for Izzo to scheme open looks for these guys.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Michigan has the home court advantage in this one, but that hasn’t meant anything in the last four meetings between these teams. Despite only facing the Spartans once in East Lansing, the Wolverines haven’t been able to stay within single digits of Sparty in any of the last four. Izzo knows what it takes to beat Michigan and get a desperately needed win and will get it.
College Basketball Odds: Michigan State 75, Michigan 71
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