NCAA Basketball Matchup: Michigan St vs Illinois
Tom Izzo notched his 400th career win last week. Michigan State was expected to do big things last year, but they were a big disappointment.
NCAA Basketball Matchup: Michigan State vs. Illinois
7:00 PM EST
College Basketball Gambling Odds from Bookmaker
NCAA Basketball Betting Favorite: Michigan State -3.5
Over/Under: 128.5
This year the expectations were much lower, but it seems this group has much better team chemistry. The Spartans are flying high and ranked tenth in the nation. Illinois blew a late lead Saturday in Minnesota and lost in overtime. The Fighting Illini have lost three straight games. Let’s take a quick look at this key Big Ten matchup.
The Spartans are led by senior Draymond Green. Green has been a major contributor all four years of his career at Michigan State. He leads the team in both points and rebounding. Green averages 15.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest.
The Spartans dominate the boards almost every year, and this year has been the perfect example of that fact. Michigan State is among the nation’s leaders in both offensive and defensive rebounding statistics.
Keith Appling, Brandon Wood, and Branden Dawsen have done a great job in the backcourt for Michigan State. Derrick Nix and Adreian Payne split time at the center spot, and both of them are improving in the low post.[soliloquy id=”82219″]
Illinois has been a little difficult to figure out this year. The Fighting Illini picked up a massive win at home over Ohio State, but they have been unable to finish off teams like Penn State and Minnesota in recent weeks. Brandon Paul had a huge breakout game when he torched Ohio State for 43 points a few weeks ago.
Paul is the team’s top play maker, but he does need to be more aggressive taking it to the basket and shoot less three-pointers. Illinois has struggled with consistency on offense this year.
The team often goes in long droughts in key games. Bruce Weber’s team is pretty good defensively, but they do allow opponents to knock down 36% from beyond the arc.
Michigan State is the better team here, but I think Illinois comes out with a ton of passion in front of their home crowd in this game. Look for the Fighting Illini to either win or lose a nail biter.
Prediction: Illinois 62 Michigan State 61
