Thursday’s Michigan State vs Rutgers game is going to be the perfect opportunity for Tom Izzo and the Spartans to gain even more steam before the season finale at Michigan.
The Spartans are one of the hottest teams in America right now, winning four straight games against UCLA, Ohio State, Purdue, and Indiana to boomerang from projected 3-seed down to a 4-seed and now it looks like most bracketologists have them as a 2-seed.
It’s been a wild couple of weeks for the green and white.
Since that near upset win over Michigan State, Rutgers is just 3-5 with wins over Penn State and Maryland (twice) which account for two of the bottom three teams in the Big Ten. It hasn’t been an easy season for Steve Pikiell, but he would love nothing more than to spoil Senior Day for the No. 8 Spartans.
Izzo isn’t going to let that happen, and Vegas agrees.
Vegas doesn’t think Michigan State vs Rutgers will be close
Kind of like we all expected, Vegas is bullish on the Spartans against one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Rutgers nearly pulled off the upset the first time around, but they don’t expect that to happen again.
Odds via DraftKings as of Wednesday, March 4
Line: Michigan State -18.5
Over/Under: 141.5
Moneyline: Michigan State -6500 | Rutgers +2000
Honestly, I kind of expected the line to be even more lopsided. Michigan State is red-hot right now after two road wins in the Hoosier State and they’re coming back home for an emotional Senior Day.
Michigan State has won 13 straight Senior Days and the last loss was all the way back in 2012. It’s very rare to see the Spartans losing at the Breslin Center on the final home game of the year — it’s almost become a defense of the logo kiss every year. These teams want to send their seniors out right and let them partake in the tradition. Winning — and winning comfortably — does that.
I fully expect Michigan State to come out firing and bury the Scarlet Knights early on so that Jaxon Kohler, Carson Cooper, Trey Fort, Denham Wojcik, and Nick Sanders can all kiss the floor and enjoy the spotlight.