Wisconsin Will Roll Spartans Again

Michigan State vs. Wisconsin, 8:00 ET

Remember when I was saying how great the college basketball season was going? Yeah... that has changed quite a bit this week as I've suffered a couple of 0-2 days this week and it has been hard to find some wins. These streaks are inevitable to happen. Beating the books is a challenging endeavor, but I won't give up on the opportunity and search for a win in tonight's game between Michigan State and Wisconsin.

I've actually covered these teams quite a bit for the season and feel like I have a pretty decent read on the teams. I like how Michigan State has responded from their embarrassing start. They opened the season with a home, overtime loss to James Madison - at the time it looked a lot worse, but James Madison turned out to be a good team. They have lost to Duke, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Illinois as well. They have put together a nice three game winning streak over Rutgers, Minnesota, and Maryland. I wouldn't call any of those teams great, but Michigan State still took care of business. Perhaps more importantly, they held those three opponents to 66 or fewer points. It seems like they know they will need to use their defense to drive the team and potentially lead to transition baskets. Tonight, they will once again need Tyson Walker, their leading scorer, to rack up points. He was the leading scorer in the first contest between these two and he has played very good basketball most of the season. He is the type of guy that can start runs for a team, but perhaps more important in this one is that he can stop opponents runs with big shots.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 23: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans looks on before the start of the game against the Kansas State Wildcats during the Sweet Sixteen round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament held at Madison Square Garden on March 23, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Wisconsin has played good basketball this season, and they were a team I tried to get a unit on earlier this week, but was unable to get the win. They won by two over the Golden Gophers, a game that shouldn't have been that close. Now they return home, a place where they have played extremely well this year. In fact, there has only been one game this season that they have had a final where they won by fewer than 10 points. They won that game by nine. A lot can change in a month or two within college basketball. When they first met, the Badgers were 7-2 and the Spartans were 4-4. Wisconsin took them to task on their home floor. They won the first half by 11 points and the second by two points. This wasn't an outstanding performance by Wisconsin, though they did shoot 43% from deep in the game and hit all of their free throws. That's tough to do on the road, but it is potentially replicable on their home floor. If you look at the way the lines are set, it does seem a bit alarming that Wisconsin is a short home favorite.

With that being said, I don't really care what the line is in this one. I think that Wisconsin will win by 10 or more points in this game or loses outright. Statistically, the two teams are fairly evenly matched, but the Spartans are playing better defense and move the ball better than Wisconsin. Still, that might not matter considering that Wisconsin is the more complete team. I'll back Wisconsin -3 in this one.

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