Saturday college basketball and we will see the Michigan State Spartan go up against the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. The game has a start time of 2:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current odds have Michigan State listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total has yet to be set.
Analysis: Michigan State held down the top spot in the national rankings for a few weeks earlier this season, but a 79-65 loss at home to North Carolina on Dec. 4, the team's only setback of the campaign (12-1), dropped it from the top spot. Tom Izzo lashed into his team at halftime of the 79-63 victory over Penn State, a contest in which the Spartans outscored the Nittany Lions 39-16 in the second half. Branden Dawson was high man for Michigan State in the win over Penn State, netting 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Gary Harris heads a list of four players averaging double figures for coach Tom Izzo's club this season, as he pours in 17.4 ppg, Overall this year the Spartans have put up 83.3 ppg while claiming a +7.3 rebounding margin and a +2.2 turnover differential and limiting foes to just 65.2 ppg. Michigan State is making an average of eight 3-pointers, led by Harris (24) and Appling (23). The Spartans are 18-13 against Indiana during coach Tom Izzo’s tenure.
Indiana comes in having won 10 of its first 14 games, nine of which have occurred at home. The Hoosiers opened the season with five consecutive wins, but have gone 5-4 since and they are 0-1 in the Big 10 after losing to Illinois on New Year's Eve. Kevin Ferrell had a very good game in the OT loss to Illinois, hitting 5-of-8 3-point attempts en route to a career-high 30 points, while Noah Vonleh used a 10-of-12 performance at the free-throw line to score 16 points, while adding 9 rebounds as well. Ferrell paces the Hoosiers in the scoring column this season, averaging 17.7 ppg while also dishing out 4.1 apg. Overall the Hoosiers are scoring 82.0 ppg, while also leading the nation in rebounding margin (+14.0), but they do need to do a better job taking care of the basketball (16.4 tpg). The Hoosiers are 44-12 in Bloomington against the Spartans.
Pick: Despite the fact that Indiana has owned Sparty in this building, I will have to go with State here. They are tye more complete team also take much better care of the basketball. Indiana is a good team but alsi a very young and inexperienced team. Look for Michigan State to pull away late.
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