The top two teams in the Big Ten clash as No. 9 Michigan State hosts No. 7 Michigan on Saturday as small betting favorites at the sportsbooks.
The No. 9 Michigan State Spartans are 4-0 straight up and 3-1 against the spread over their last four games at home. The Spartans will try to wrap up their regular season with a home win on Saturday against the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan State is a 4-point home favorite on the college basketball odds in East Lansing at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. When these two teams met on February 24 in Ann Arbor, the Spartans broke a string of three straight losses to the Wolverines with a 77-70 road win as 4.5-point underdogs.
Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans
When: Saturday, March 9, 8:00 p.m. ET
Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing, Michigan
Betting Line / Total: Michigan State -4 / 135.5 Points
Michigan State Spartans Notes
The Spartans rolled through December and January with a 13-0 SU and 12-1 ATS run before eventually hitting a wall with an 0-3 SU and ATS slump at the start of February. Since then however, Michigan State, at +1400 on the March Madness odds, has been back on track with a 5-1 SU and 4-2 ATS record over its last six games.
Junior guard Cassius Winston is enjoying a career season as he leads the team in points with 18.8 per game and assists with 7.6 per game to help keep the offense rolling with Joshua Langford on the shelf with a foot injury.
Michigan State has been one of the nation’s best bets this season with a 21-9 ATS record to go along with its 24-6 SU mark per the OddsShark College Basketball Database.
Michigan Wolverines Notes
The Wolverines defense has been playing at an elite level this season allowing only 58.3 points per game, good for the third lowest total in the nation. Michigan’s sound defense has led the team to a 26-4 SU and 17-13 ATS record heading into Saturday’s regular season finale.
This will be just the third time this season that the Wolverines are going off as betting underdogs; in its previous two instances as one, Michigan is 2-0 SU and ATS with upset wins on the road over Villanova and Maryland.
Michigan at Michigan State Betting Total
Saturday night’s total is set at 135.5 points at betting sites. The UNDER is 11-4 in Michigan State’s last 15 games.
Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue all enter the weekend with matching 15-4 SU conference records in Big Ten play. The regular season conference title will be sorted out shortly, but all three of these Big Ten powerhouses will be playing for conference superiority in the Big Ten Tournament next week and then national superiority in the NCAA Tournament.
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