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Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans Betting Preview

After a packed Saturday following the holiday break, the Michigan Wolverines will head to East Lansing to take on intrastate rivals Michigan State on Sunday. Both teams are currently ranked inside the Top 20 in the AP Poll and in the Kenpom Rankings.

Michigan (10-3) comes into the game having won two in a row after dropping consecutive games to Illinois and Oregon. The Wolverines will be without forward Isaiah Livers, who is out with a significant groin injury. Livers is averaging 13.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Michigan still has solid contributors in John Teske, Zavier Simpson and Eli Brooks, all double-digit scorers, as well as freshman Franz Wagner, who is capable but inconsistent so far.

The Spartans are led by All-American guard Cassius Winston and forward Xavier Tillman. Michigan State recently found out it will be without wing scorer Joshua Langford for the entire season. It remains to be seen whether or not he will go pro or not after the season.

Regardless, Gabe Brown and Aaron Henry have become reliable players from the wing in the last six games, where the Spartans have averaged over a point per possession in each of those games. Freshman guard Rocket Watts has yet to locate his stroke from behind the arc, but if that happens, Tom Izzo’s team could still live up to their preseason hype and No. 1 ranking.

Michigan State is a 9.5-point favorite in this game, with the over/under set at 144.

Clawing Their Way To The Top

The Wolverines have gone from an unranked team to a top five team and have settled as a top 20 team. They are 8-5 against the spread on the season and 6-7 in the over/under.

Michigan has played only two true road games thus far and is 0-2 ATS, but is 3-0 ATS in neutral-site games. Juwan Howard’s team is 2-0 ATS in their most recent two games and 2-4 in the over/under in their last six games.

Time To Defend Sparta

Michigan State has yet to play as the underdog on the season and is 5-2 against the spread at home but just 6-8 ATS overall on the season. The Spartans are 8-6 on the over/under so far this season and have gone over in five of their last seven games overall and five of their last six games against Michigan.

Of course, the counterpoint to all of that is that Michigan State has gone under in its last seven January games. Enjoy.

Pick and Prediction

Michigan State is 11-1 straight up in its last 12 games at home, which is a trend you shouldn’t expect to change when the Wolverines are missing arguably their best player. However, Michigan is still a tremendous defensive team. Livers is a huge piece, and the young supporting cast of Michigan State should lead to the score hitting the under.

The Michigan defense should keep the game close enough to cover, but the Spartans have a tremendous home-court advantage. Wolverines cover, Michigan State wins straight up, and the score hits the under.

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