A big game tonight in College Basketball as the Michigan Wolverines travel to East Lansing to play their instate rivals, the Michigan State Spartans. Both teams have struggled this year, but one has done noticeably worse. This game could get ugly tonight, and although the mercy rule doesn’t exist in college basketball, many are going to wish it did.
Michigan vs Michigan State Basketball Preview:
Michigan State (12-8, 4-5 in the Big Ten, and 10-2 at home) host Michigan (7-13, 2-7 in the Big Ten, and 2-3 on the road). The game will be played tonight at 9pm ET at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.
Michigan State is a 12-point favorite at home, and the total is set at 144.5 (odds via DraftKings).
Michigan Wolverines
The Michigan Wolverines are having a terrible season, and it is worse that what was expected. The Wolverines lost a lot of key pieces last year (most notably, Hunter Dickinson), and did not bring much talent in this season. This has led to Michigan being ranked dead last in the Big Ten.
Head coach Juwan Howard, in his 5th season, is off to the worst start in his career. After winning AP Coach of the Year in 2021, Howard and Michigan have been underperforming ever since. This has led to a passionate fanbase wanting to see a change in leadership.
An underperforming coach, and a team that has their best player suspended for away games, makes Michigan a very tough team to bet because of their inconsistent play. One thing is for certain though, they will be both out-coached and out-manned in this matchup.
The Wolverines host Rutgers in their next game.
Michigan State Spartans
Michigan State on the other hand, has their Hall of Fame Coach. Tom Izzo will go down as one of the best to ever coach college basketball, and despite a shaky start to the season this year, there is little doubt that Izzo won’t find a way to turn it around. The Spartans are always contenders, and have 25 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Michigan State always starts the season off with big matchups, so don’t get too focused on the Spartan’s eight losses. MSU has played three top 10 teams, and beat one of them (24 point win against #6 Baylor).
The Breslin Center is also one of the toughest arena’s to play at in college basketball. Add the venue to a huge rivalry game, and a Michigan State fanbase that is eager to beat their arch rivals (who just won the football national championship) and you have a recipe for disaster. Michigan fans may want to bring back the mercy rule for this one!
The Spartans travels to Maryland in their next game.
The Rivalry
Michigan leads the all-time series with a record of 97-88. Michigan State has an incredible 20-3 record at home against the Wolverines since 1998. Michigan won the last game in Ann Arbor on Feb 18, 2023, 84-72.
Michigan vs Michigan State Bets and Predictions
The reasoning is simple. The Spartans are the better team, have the better coach, and have an impeccable home record this year and against the Wolverines. If that isn’t enough reasoning then do not worry! Emotions aside, lets look at the betting splits.
As always, make sure you look at multiple different sources when researching betting lines. It is important to use at least two different sites or apps. I use Pikkit, Vegas Insider, and multiple sportsbook data.
Pikkit has 72.5% of the money on and 79.5% of the bets on MSU -12.5.
Vegas Insider has 86% of the money and 74% of the bets on MSU. Sports Betting Dime has a massive 83% of the money on MSU but only 48% of the bets on the Spartans.
Michigan State -12.5 is the popular bet, but also has money following it. Both Vegas Insider and Sports Betting Dime are showing more money than bets coming in on MSU implying a potentially sharp play on the Spartans.
One more piece of data on this matchup is the margin of victory for Michigan State at East Lansing against Michigan the past 25 years. MSU is winning on average by 16 points per game. There was one 51-point MSU victory in there, so without that outlier, Michigan State is still winning by 14 points on average.
This is also the worst Michigan basketball team in a very long time, and without their best player, Dug McDaniel, the Wolverines stands little to no chance against the Spartans.
MSU -12
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