Home

Buy Sports Picks

Free Sports Picks

Sports Betting Forum

Members Login

Article Archives

Contact Us

Leaderboard

Who's Hot

Recent Results

Texas at Michigan State

The 12th-ranked Michigan State Spartans will put their 52-game non-conference home winning streak on the line when they host the 18th-ranked Texas Longhorns this Saturday, in the Spartans final non-conference game of the season. This is the fifth straight season these two teams have faced off. Michigan State had won three straight, before losing 79-68 at Austin last December. Our odds have the Spartans favored by 6.5 points over the Longhorns.

Michigan State has an overall record of 8-3, but has played a pretty tough schedule to start the season. The Spartans have already faced the likes of Connecticut, Washington, Duke, and Syracuse, but their only win in those four games came against Washington  back on Nov. 24. Only the Syracuse loss was decided by more than five points. The Spartans come into the game off a 90-51 win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday, which they played without head coach Tom Izzo, who was suspended for violating the NCAA rules.

The Longhorns are 9-2 on the season, and have also played a pretty challenging non-conference schedule to start the year. Texas holds wins over the likes of Illinois, and just this past Saturday beat North Carolina. The Longhorns two losses came in a 68-66 loss against Pittsburgh and an embarrassing 73-56 loss at USC, their only true road game this season.

The Spartans leading scorer is Durrell Summers, who averages 15.5 points a game, and is coming off a season-high 25 points against Prairie View A&M. Senior Kalin Lucas is second on the team, averaging just under 15 points a game.

The Spartans are hoping to have junior Korie Lucious and freshman Keith Appling in the lineup for this game. Lucious hurt his right ankle and Appling suffered a head injury in the Spartans last game.

Texas is led by sophomore Jordan Hamilton, who is averaging just over 19 points and seven rebounds a game. Hamilton scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half over North Carolina.

The Longhorns are also getting a lot of production out of freshman guard Corey Joseph, who scored 21 points against the Tar Heels, including the game-winner with just 1.4 seconds left. Joseph seems to be getting better and better as the season rolls on. After just six games Joseph was averaging just over seven points a game, but in the last five games he is averaging just under 17 a game.

I think the edge in this game has to go to the Spartans, as they just play at a different level on their home court, but if Lucious and Appling aren’t able to go, the Spartans could be in trouble.