The Spartans’ “season-saving” home win over Purdue this past Saturday was a short-lived experience, as Michigan State was waxed, 87,70, at Michigan Tuesday night. After beginning the season 14-2 (ranked No. 10 nationally), the Spartans have lost eight of their next 13 games and they are preparing for the MI State vs Ohio State game.
Michigan State (19-10, 10-8 Big Ten) is running out of daylight before the conference tournament. MI State vs Ohio State will occur at Columbus on Thursday, check our NCAAB schedule.
The Buckeyes (18-9, 11-7) play their third game in five days and sixth in the last 13. However, nothing could lessen the stench of an eight-point loss to Big Ten bottom-feeder Nebraska. It was the same Husker team which entered the game 8-21, 2-16 in the conference.
Historians had determined that it’d been 46 years since OSU lost a March home game to a team with a losing record.
That’s after a 15-point loss at Maryland, another sub-.500 entity.
So, what we have here are two scuffling teams at the wrong time of the season.
Forward E.J. Liddell did his part against Nebraska, as in 27 points, 14 rebounds and six blocked shots. He’s averaging 19.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg. OSU missed Zed Key, the center injuring his ankle against Maryland and his status for Thursday is unknown.
The Buckeyes, ranked 23rd in the latest polls, played themselves out of at least one bye in the conference tourney.
The knock about the Michigan State team is it does not have a clear-cut go-to scorer. If you look around the rest of the Big Ten, they all have “that guy.”
The Spartans’ stat sheet has a handful of players averaging in the 8- to 11-point range, led by forward Gave Brown’s 11.4 ppg. Star freshman Max Christie is averaging 9.5 ppg.
When looking at the NCAA Basketball betting spreads, Ohio State has been tabbed as six-point favorites at Value City Arena. However, in the battle of two sliding teams, it’s hard to figure whether giving or taking points represents any sort of value.