Michigan vs Michigan State -3.5 O/U 139.5
The rivalry continues in East Lansing today with two motivated teams trying to make some headwind in the big 10! Michigan State is looked at as the slightly better team who had a lull in their season when Malik Hall was out. This is why they are favored with home court and the hook. Sparty this year has slowed it down some ranking 249th in average possession length, and improving their defense to 49th. Michigan on the other hand still has their big lumberjack center in Hunter Dickenson who averages 18.7 points per game and 8.3 rebounds. He is the heart and soul of this team. Last year these two teams split in their games and each won at home by margin. Now the wolverines under Juwan Howard have a slightly faster pace ranking 98th in average possession length, but that doesn’t factor in that they have had a relatively easy non-conference schedule playing weak defenses in transition. I think the spread is good on this game so I will look at the total here. Sparty should be able to control the clock in this game with their slow pace and I also love the fact that both teams rank in the top 37 in turnovers and in the bottom 70 in forcing turnovers. Hunter Dickenson, being so large, sometimes can’t run the court for the full duration of the game so there will be times that Michigan will have to slow it down or sub him out. Malik Hall will be defending him and both players know each other quite well. Big 10 play means big defense. Take the under.
Under 139.5 – 2 stars
