Michigan State vs Rutgers -3 O/U 143 –
Rutgers finally got off of the schneid with a big win at Indiana. They also finally got healthy, but they certainly have more work to do in order to get to the post season and Michigan State is in a spot that could be venerable. Now Sparty did beat this Scarlet Knights team by over 20 back on January 5th, but Rutgers was missing a few big men down low in Omoruyi and Mag, and they couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn shooting 32% from the field and 25% from 3. These teams are actually quite similar on offense and defense except for the fact that Rutgers shoots the ball a little bit better and and Michigan State rebounds the ball a little bit better. Michigan State is much better at free throws at 76% to Rutgers 57%. Rutgers is better at keeping the ball where offensive turnovers are at 15% of the time to Michigan State’s 19% of the time. Rutgers needs to get pentation and make the easier shots to win this game and I think that they will being that Joey Hauser is Sparty’s only threat down low and especially with Gabe Brown testing positive yesterday for Covid. State may have some guys still sitting for Covid issues. The big kicker for me here is that Michigan State is coming off of a 20 day covid pause which tells me that Rutgers could have some value here. This is also a revenge spot for them. I think the safer play would be the first half 2 stars and maybe 1 star for the whole game.
Rutgers 1st half -1.5 – 2 stars and -3 full game 1 star
