Indiana at Michigan State NCAAB Spread & Betting Pick

Indiana at Michigan State NCAAB Spread & Betting Pick

Written by on January 19, 2018

Normally you won’t find ranked teams or the Big Ten playing on Friday nights in the college basketball season as that’s easily the lightest day of the week. However, MyBookie fans are in for a treat this Friday as Indiana visits No. 9 Michigan State. Who will be favored in the NCAAB spread? Find out more at our online sportsbook.

Indiana at Michigan State NCAAB Spread & Betting Pick

When: Friday, 7 PM ET Where: Breslin Center, East Lansing TV: Fox Sports 1 Stream: Fox Sports Go Radio: 107.5 FM (Indiana) / Spartan Sports Network (Michigan State) Opening NCAAB Spread: MSU -15

Last Season

The teams played just once in 2016-17, with Indiana winning at home 82-75. James Blackmon blew up with 33 points. The Hoosiers’ top scorer finished 11 of 16 from the field, 6 of 10 on 3-pointers and had only two turnovers in 36 minutes.  Robert Johnson scored 17 points and Thomas Bryant added 11 points and six rebounds as Indiana snapped a five-game losing streak in the series. Eron Harris finished with 21 points and Nick Ward added 15 to lead the Spartans. Miles Bridges finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan State, which gave up 23 points off 12 turnovers.

Why Bet on Indiana?

The Hoosiers (11-7, 4-2) are on a three-game winning streak following a 66-46 home blowout of Northwestern on Sunday. Johnson scored 17 points and Josh Newkirk had 12, and the Hoosiers used an 18-0 second-half run to pull away. The 46 points allowed were the fewest IU has allowed since giving up only 46 points to Illinois on Jan. 26, 2014. It was tied for the third lowest in a Big Ten game for an IU opponent since 1996-97.  IU gave up 43 vs. Iowa (1-23-08), 44 at Northwestern (1-2-02) and 46 against Illinois (1-26-14). The Hoosiers had their best defensive effort holding the Wildcats to 26.8% shooting.  It was tied for the second best Big Ten defensive effort for Indiana since the 1996-97 season.  Michigan shot 25.0% vs. IU (1-25-00) and Ohio State shot 26.8 (1-21-03). With a lead with 5:00 to go in a game this year, the Hoosiers are now 9-0. IU improved to 7-0 when making 8 three-pointers or more. “We’re not always perfect, we’re not always great but it’s going to be a staple. It’s something we’ve got to have,” IU first-year coach Archie Miller said after career win No. 150. “You have to have a grittiness about you, a quickness about you when you play defense and, for the most part, I think we’re starting to look the part.” Junior Juwan Morgan is 9th in the league in scoring (17.5), 6th in rebounding (8.3), 5th in steals (1.5) and 7th in field goal percentage (61.8%) in Big Ten play. Sophomore center De’Ron Davis, who started the first 15 games this season, underwent surgery on Jan. 10 to repair a torn Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season. Davis is fourth in the Big Ten in field goal percentage shooting 61.5%. He was averaging 9.6 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Why Bet on Michigan State?

The Spartans (16-3, 4-2) were No. 1 in the country not long ago but have dropped two of three. They were beaten 82-72 at home by then-unranked Michigan last Saturday. Bridges had 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Bridges gave up the ball four times as one of many turnover-prone Spartans. Michigan scored 26 points off Michigan State’s 18 turnovers. Jaren Jackson had 19 points and six blocks, limited by foul trouble for the Spartans. Ward was limited to four points and had three turnovers in one of the worst games of his career. In the past three games, MSU has committed 43 turnovers which led to 46 points. The Spartans are committing 13.9 turnovers per game this season, and they rank 13th in Big Ten games with a minus-3.2 turnover margin. Some of that stems from MSU being pinned into more of a half-court offense. MSU has just 31 fast-break points in its six Big Ten games, including just two against the Wolverines on Saturday. Michigan State’s sophomore class – Bridges, Joshua Langford, Cassius Winston and Ward – has helped lead the way for the Spartans. That quartet has accounted for 66.3 percent of the team’s scoring, 45.6 percent of its rebounds (353 of 774) and 55.9 percent of the team’s assists (218 of 390). MSU starts four sophomores and a freshman. All but Ward played 27-or-more minutes against the Wolverines. The Spartans’ upperclassmen — seniors Tum Nairn and Gavin Schilling, and juniors Matt McQuaid and Kenny Goins — are role players. Sparty has been losing to teams with plenty of upperclassmen. “We’ve had to become more physical,” coach Tom Izzo said. “That’s where our youth sometimes gets us. … Indiana has got a great, great forward in Juwan Morgan, who’s averaging 16 and 7 or 8. Maybe more importantly they’ve got two or three senior guards, one fifth-year, that are all playing pretty well right now.”

Latest NCAAB Betting Trends

  • Indiana is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 games
  • Indiana is 5-1 SU in the last 6 games
  • The total went UNDER in 5 of Indiana’s last 6 games
  • Michigan State is 16-4 ATS in the last 20 games at home
  • Michigan State is 15-2 SU in the last 17 games
  • The total went OVER in 7 of Michigan State’s last 9 games

Expert Prediction & NCAAB Betting Pick

The way Sparty is struggling right now, 15 points is way too many to give. Indiana won’t win but will cover the NCAAB spread.