Duke vs MI State Analysis: Duke, MS to Meet in Windy City
Duke Looks to Continue Its Dominance Against Michigan State Spartans
Another Early-Season Test Coming Up for Duke in State Farm Champions Classic
Nobody can accuse Duke of taking the easy way out during the early part of the season having already lost at home to Arizona. Michigan State also suffered a home loss as the Spartans fell in overtime to unranked James Madison in the season opener. The Duke vs Michigan State analysis has the Blue Devils favored in this matchup.
This is the first meeting between the teams since the second round of the 2022 NCAA Division I basketball tournament with Duke winning 85-76. The last regular-season matchup came in 2020 when Michigan State won 75-69.
Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler is questionable for the game. The only Illinois native on the Duke team is Jaden Schutt and he will miss the 2023-24 season.
The college basketball betting lines have Duke listed as a 4-point favorite.
Michigan State (+350) is second only to Purdue in the odds of winning the Big Ten title while Duke (+130) is favored to win the ACC championship.
Duke (+1400) only trails Kansas, Kentucky, and Purdue in the odds of winning the national title with Michigan State coming in seventh at +1800 in the championship odds.
A quick look at the college basketball rankings shows that Duke fell from second to seventh in the Associated Press rankings and went from third to ninth in the coaches poll. Michigan State dropped from fourth to 18th in the AP poll and is 19th in the coaches poll.
In last year’s Sagarin rankings, Duke was 13th with Michigan State 22nd.
Michigan State vs Duke 
Day/Time:
Location: United Center, Chicago, ILL
Streaming: ESPN
Line: Duke -4 | Total: 141.5
Walker Needs Some Help for Michigan State
It is hard to complain about what leading scorer Tyson Walker has been contributing in the first two games for Michigan State.
He is shooting 54.5% from the field and putting up 24.5 points per game. However, no other Michigan State player is averaging more than 8.5 points per game. Keep that in mind when looking at the Duke vs Michigan State analysis.
Junior Jaden Akins is putting up 8.5 points and 9 rebounds, freshman Coen Carr is averaging 8.5 points on 85.7% shooting.
A.J. Hoggard was a double-digit scorer a season ago but is off to a slow start offensively.
Michigan State has covered in just two of its last seven games.
No Sophomore Jinx for Duke Star
His freshman season didn’t quite end the way 7-foot Duke star Kyle Filipowski was hoping as he had a total of 19 points on 8-of-23 shooting in two games in the NCAA tournament. Filipowski missed all six of his 3-point attempts in the two games and in a loss to Tennessee, he committed four turnovers.
It has been a different story so far as a sophomore as Filipowski scored 25 points in each of his first two games this season and is shooting 62.5% from the field.
Freshmen Jared McCain and Caleb Foster are averaging more than 20 minutes per game to give the Blue Devils some support for their national player of the year candidate. That could factor into the Duke vs Michigan State analysis.
Duke has covered six of its last eight games.
Last Meeting
Jeremy Roach was one of four starters to score at least 15 points as Duke, a 6.5-point favorite, advanced to the regionals in the 2022 NCAA tournament with an 85-76 win in Greenville, South Carolina.
The game went over the 146.5-point total with 2:44 to play.
Duke improved to 9-2 against Michigan State dating back to 2010 with four of those games coming in the NCAA tournament.
Michigan State vs Duke Betting Preview
When the season began, this was expected to be a matchup between top-five ranked teams when the Spartans and Blue Devils met in the State Farms Champions Classic before both teams suffered early-season losses.
Duke is shooting 53% from the field while Michigan State is pulling down nearly 10 more rebounds per game than Duke.
The Blue Devils have won 15 of their last 20 games against Big Ten teams.
The 141.5-point total is the lowest for a matchup between Duke and Michigan State since the 2015 national semifinal that was won by Duke 81-61.
Duke is 15-5 in its last 20 neutral-site games. The Blue Devils are 34-34-2 against the spread as a favorite over the last three seasons.
Michigan State has covered 13 of its last 28 games as the underdog. The Spartans are 10-9 in their last 19 games played at neutral sites.
Michigan State is just 2 for 31 from 3-point range in the first two games of the season.
Although both teams bring back plenty of NCAA players who had key roles from last season, there is still a bit of unknown when it comes to what to expect from both the Blue Devils and the Spartans.
For college basketball lines, NCAAB schedule, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
