Michigan State basketball: 3 bold predictions at No. 1 Purdue

1. Michigan State covers at Mackey (finally)

It seems like every time Michigan State travels to Mackey Arena, the game is out of hand in the first four minutes. The under-16 timeout usually feels like the beginning of the end.

Not this time.

Michigan State has really good guard play which has kept it in games this season and those two veterans in the backcourt will make sure that the Spartans aren’t overwhelmed on the road. They haven’t crumbled in a hostile environment much this season, holding nine-point leads at Indiana and Illinois before giving up big runs in the second halves to lose.

This team just simply doesn’t get intimidated on the road. It just can’t seem to hold off big runs which inevitably come for opponents each game.

But the line is somewhere around Purdue -10 and I think Michigan State will be able to cover that and keep this game closer than people expect for an unranked opponent on the road facing the No. 1 team in the country.