No. 4 Michigan State is the most talented team in the Big Ten but is two games behind first-place Purdue. So Sparty can’t afford to slip up and look past a bad Iowa team on Tuesday night. An upset would make Iowa’s season but the Hawkeyes are solid underdogs in the NCAAB odds.
“We’ve played well the last two home games,” said McCaffery. “We’ve played them fairly well here over the years at home, but this Michigan State team has been a good road team, which you would expect with the guys they have. … Their front line is difficult,” said McCaffery. “When you think about Bridges and Jackson, those two guys in particular, get a bulk of the talk, and Ward is really good. He’s a handful. For most teams, he’d be the complete focal point of what your defense is trying to stop.”
All 12 of Iowa’s wins this season have come when scoring 80 points or more. Iowa has scored 94 points or more in multiple Big Ten games in the same season (Illinois and Minnesota) for the first time since 1994-95. The last time Michigan State played at Iowa, the Hawkeyes beat the top-ranked Spartans (83-70) on Dec. 29, 2015, marking the program’s third win over a No. 1 ranked team.
Michigan State at Iowa NCAAB Odds & Expert Pick
When: Tuesday, 9 PM ET Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City TV: ESPN Stream: WatchESPN Radio: Spartan Sports Network Affiliates (Michigan State) / Hawkeye Sports Network (Iowa) Opening NCAAB Odds: MSU -10.5We travel to Iowa tomorrow and host Purdue on Saturday in another week of #B1G play 🏀#GoGreen pic.twitter.com/jCN10qDqa2
— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) February 5, 2018
Last Season
This is the only scheduled meetings between the programs. Last year, the also met just once and Sparty won 77-66 at home. Miles Bridges scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half and finished with 11 rebounds and four blocks. Nick Ward scored 12 of his 14 in the second half, Cassius Winston had all of his 12 points in the second half and Joshua Langford scored eight of his 11 points over the last 20 minutes of the game. All those guys are still around. Iowa led by a point at halftime but Langford’s 3-pointer early in the second half started a 17-6 run. Tyler Cook and Peter Jok scored 13 points apiece for the Hawkeyes.Latest NCAAB Betting Trends
- Michigan State is 1-3-1 ATS in its last 5 games
- Michigan State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 10 of Michigan State’s last 15 games
- Iowa is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games
- Iowa is 3-7 SU in its last 10 games
- The total has gone OVER in 10 of Iowa’s last 12 games
Why Bet on Michigan State?
The Spartans (22-3, 10-2 Big Ten) won their sixth straight game Saturday, 63-60 at Indiana. Matt McQuaid’s fourth 3-pointer of the game, with 1:09 to play, helped seal the win. Jaren Jackson Jr. blocked Devontae Green’s shot with 12 seconds left. MSU coach Tom Izzo called McQuaid “our star tonight.” He finished with a team-high 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range. It’s just the third time this season he has made more than four 3s in a game. Once concern for MSU was being outrebounded 53-29. Indiana shot just 28.8 percent for the game, while MSU made 48.9 percent. The Spartans were out-rebounded for only the third time this season. The 53 rebounds collected by Indiana were the most by an opponent this season. MSU shot a season-low 47.1 percent (8-of-17) from the free throw line. Michigan State blocked 13 shots, the eighth time this season with at least 10 rejections and tied for the second-most in a game this season (Rutgers, 12/5). The 13 blocked shots are tied for the second-most in a single game in school history … It ties the single-game record against a Big Ten opponent, set earlier this year at Rutgers (12/5). MSU survived with a conference road win in a hostile environment. That took some toughness and focus, even if it didn’t always look that way. MSU managed to answer every time Indiana made it interesting. Still, the 22-3 start is MSU’s best start since 2000-2001. Spartans sophomore Winston has been selected as one of 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes to the top point guard in college basketball. A starter in all 25 games, Winston is fourth on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game and leads the team with 7.0 assists per game. He leads the Big Ten and ranks No. 9 in the country in assists. In addition, Winston ranks No. 2 in the country in 3-point field goal percentage, connecting on 53.1 percent of his shots from long distance. The list will be narrowed down to five finalists in early to mid-March.Why Bet on Iowa?
The Hawkeyes (12-13, 3-9) will certainly play with nothing to lose. But they were just beaten handily at a mediocre Penn State team on Saturday, 82-58. The Nittany Lions scored 50 of their 82 points in the paint to complete the season sweep of the Hawkeyes. Iowa shot 38.2 percent, making 21-of-55 field goals, but it made a season-low one 3-point field goal in 10 attempts and that came in the first minute of the game. Sophomore Tyler Cook paced the Hawkeyes with 19 points, making 8-of-12 field goals, and freshman Luka Garza added 13. Sophomore Jordan Bohannon, who was under-the-weather, finished with three points in a season-low 24 minutes. Coach Fran McCaffery expects junior guard Brady Ellingson to play against Michigan State, and forward Ryan Kreiner is a possibility. Kreiner hasn’t played since Jan. 17; Ellingson hasn’t since Jan. 20.
“We’ve played well the last two home games,” said McCaffery. “We’ve played them fairly well here over the years at home, but this Michigan State team has been a good road team, which you would expect with the guys they have. … Their front line is difficult,” said McCaffery. “When you think about Bridges and Jackson, those two guys in particular, get a bulk of the talk, and Ward is really good. He’s a handful. For most teams, he’d be the complete focal point of what your defense is trying to stop.”
All 12 of Iowa’s wins this season have come when scoring 80 points or more. Iowa has scored 94 points or more in multiple Big Ten games in the same season (Illinois and Minnesota) for the first time since 1994-95. The last time Michigan State played at Iowa, the Hawkeyes beat the top-ranked Spartans (83-70) on Dec. 29, 2015, marking the program’s third win over a No. 1 ranked team.
