Get those tissues ready, Spartan fans, because Thursday’s Michigan State vs Rutgers game will be the last time we see Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler play at the Breslin Center.
Tears will be flowing before, during, and after the game from the eyes of Tom Izzo, Kohler and Cooper, and the fans — their families, too, will be emotional wrecks. It’s going to be an emotional night in East Lansing, but there’s also a game that needs to be played.
Cooper and Kohler will try to lead Michigan State to its 25th win of the season and they’ll be doing so against one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, Rutgers.
Although Rutgers is a Big Ten bottom-dweller with wins against just Penn State and Maryland since the last time the Scarlet Knights faced Michigan State, they did almost pull off that upset of the Spartans in Piscataway. It was one of the more shocking overtime games this season and it started a bit of a mini slump for Izzo and Co.
They haven’t forgotten that.
Fast forward a month and Michigan State is one of the hottest teams in the country with four straight wins over UCLA, Ohio State, Purdue, and Indiana — all teams that could be dancing this month.
Vegas has set the line for Thursday night’s showdown.
Note: Odds via DraftKings as of Thursday, March 5
Line: Michigan State -18.5
Over/Under: 141.5
Moneyline: Michigan State -6500 | Rutgers +2000
As you can see, Vegas doesn’t expect this game to be all that close. Rutgers comes in with just three wins since that near-upset against Michigan State while the Spartans are winners of four straight and have beaten teams like Purdue and Illinois over the past few weeks.
They’re trending in opposite directions.
Predicting Michigan State vs Rutgers
I really don’t see this one being all that close. Michigan State is going to get off to a bit of a slow start and Rutgers will hang around for 10 minutes, but after that, it’s going to be all Spartans. We’ll get a bit of a dunk contest with Cooper and Coen Carr throwing them down, but we’ll also get some fun action from Trey Fort as it’s his Senior Day, too.
Michigan State covers and runs away with this one, allowing the seniors to kiss the logo with no altercations at midcourt.
Final score: Rutgers 50, Michigan State 78