MSU vs Wisconsin Gambling Lines
The 22nd-ranked Michigan State Spartans and 12th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will face off in a heavyweight showdown in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis on Saturday. [ad-4468020]
Big Ten Tournament – Semifinal
22 Michigan State Spartans (24-8) vs. 12 Wisconsin Badgers (26-6)
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2014
Time: 4:05 PM ET
Venue: Bankers Life Fieldhouse
City: Indianapolis, Indiana
O/U odds: 137.5
Spread: Wisconsin pk
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Matchup Stats | ATS Insider Preview
The Spartans are happy to get back into the win column after dropping three of their final four regular season games, while Wisconsin is also happy to get back into the win column after losing their regular season finale following an eight-game winning streak.
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Neither side had any trouble cruising through their quarterfinal match. Michigan State downed Northwestern by 16 points, and Wisconsin thumped Minnesota by 26. We’ve long been hearing that Michigan State has been waiting to get healthy, and it was good to see them finally get something going with their full lineup intact.
Guard Branden Dawson was back in the team’s starting lineup, and he had the best game of the bunch, scoring a team-high 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting, adding nine rebounds, two assists, and a block. Guard Gary Harris also had a highly productive outing, scoring 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, adding seven rebounds, and filling out his stat sheet with three assists, three blocks, and two steals.
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The team needed everything they could get out of those two, as center Adreian Payne and point guard Keith Appling each had a rough go of it on Friday. Payne was just 2-for-8 from the field for five points, adding six rebounds and two blocks. More concerning is that Appling continues to show the ill-effects of a wrist injury that’s caused him to miss some time in 2014. Appling finished the game against Northwestern with just six points, two assists, a rebound, and a steal. He’ll need to be better if he and Payne hope to avoid being the first seniors to go without a Final Four appearance in Tom Izzo’s tenure with the program.
There was little cause for concern following Wisconsin’s 83-57 win over Minnesota. The Badgers held the Golden Gophers to 32.8 percent shooting from the field, and guard Ben Brust filled the basket with a game-high 29 points in the rout. Wisconsin shot 54.5 percent from the floor in that one.
Wisconsin was able to halt Michigan State’s five-game winning streak in the series in the last meeting between these teams, but that Spartan team had a very different look to it. Michigan State will have more bullets in its gun this time around, and would surely like to advance through to Sunday after closing the regular season on a sour note and losing some points with the selection committee.
The Spartans are 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings between these teams, and they are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games against Big Ten opponents.
The play: Michigan State pk
