Michigan State fans travel well and will need to as Davidson is much closer to the Greenfield, South Carolina location of the 7/10 matchup tipping-off at 9:40 p.m. ET Friday.
The Spartans (22-12) advanced to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals last week before losing to Purdue. The health of guards Tyson Walker and A.J. Hoggard is something to watch. Both suffered ankle injuries within 30 seconds of one another in that game against Purdue. Walker did not play and is listed as probable for Friday. Hoggard did play through his injury and has no designation.
Davidson (27-6) won the Atlantic-10 regular-season championship but lost to Richmond in the conference tournament championship, which allowed the Spiders to steal a bid. It also led to Richmond beating Big Ten Tournament champion Iowa on Thursday.
Also, an interesting matchup provided by the tournament committee as Michigan State transfer Foster Loyer squares off against his old team.
Michigan State opened as 1.5-point favorites with an over/under of 141.5, where they have held steady as of this writing.
Michigan State Spartans Betting Preview: Win the perimeter
Michigan State is 12th in the country in 3-point shooting, making 38.4% of such attempts. The Spartans are also 60th in forcing teams to 31.3% from the 3-point range. They’ll need that formula again, especially in limited opportunities wanting a slower pace to beat Davidson.
Walker and Hoggard are the keys to the Spartans’ offense, running it on the perimeter. Walker particularly has a good first step and is averaging 8.3 points and 4.4 assists per game. Sparty is led by Gabe Brown at 11.3 points per game, with a balanced attack throughout.
Athletic, 7-foot forward Marcus Bingham Jr. will be a key to watch on screens and rebounding on both ends.
Davidson Wildcats Betting Preview: Hit your shots
The Wildcats are ninth in 3-point shooting in the country, converting 38.7% of chances. Loyer hits 45.0% of his 3-point attempts and averages a team-best 16.8 points per game. Hyunjung Lee is a 6-foot-7 guard who is second in scoring at 16.5 points per game. Davidson is going to try and space the floor and should get some mismatches on Michigan State’s bigs.
Their efficiency extends to across the floor, ranking 18th nationally at 48.4%. Their 75.8 points per game ranks 61st in the country.
Defensively, Davidson allows 66.0 points per game, which is 87th in the country. But Davidson is 103rd in opposing field goal percentage allowed and 227th in opposing 3-point field goal percentage.
Betting Prediction
Davidson is 20-12 against the spread and 18-14 on over/unders this season. The Wildcats are 9-3 in true road games and 5-2 in neutral court settings. Michigan State is 18-15-1 against the spread and on over/unders. The Spartans were 5-6 in true road games and 5-3 on a neutral court.
It’s a great coaching matchup between Davidson’s Bob McKillop and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. The after-timeout plays will be fun to watch. But the Spartans should be upset, only by a seed and betting line basis.
The A-10, while having a down year, the champion should be able to beat the seventh-best Big Ten team, which is limping into the tournament.
100% up to $3,000 Bonus
Bovada is our most recommended ONLINE CASINO and POKER ROOM for US players with excellent deposit options. Get your 100% signup bonus today.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.