Take Spartans To Stop Skid Against Oregon

Oregon vs. Michigan State, 12:00 ET

We've reached a huge weekend in the sporting world. Of course, we have the Super Bowl tomorrow, but today we have a huge slate of basketball games that we get to enjoy. There are hundreds of teams playing each other and I'm looking forward to padding our wallets a bit more today so we can use that on some juicy Super Bowl props. Let's take on the game between Oregon and Michigan State. 

Oregon comes into this game with a respectable record, but it isn't overly impressive. They are just 16-7 for the season, but they've really struggled in conference games with every loss coming there, and winning just five games. After starting the season with nine straight wins, they fell to UCLA. They picked up a few easy wins over the course of the next few games, but then were blown out by Illinois. Again, they were able to run off a few consecutive wins, but dropped a game to Purdue. It wasn't a matter of them going on the road and not handling it. All three of those losses came on their home court. Over their last five though they've struggled mightily and most of those have come on the road. They are 1-4 over their past five games. They beat Washington five games ago, and since then have dropped games at Minnesota, at UCLA, at home against Nebraska, and at Michigan. If you want to take any positive away from the losses it is that they were at least in the games. The only blowout was against UCLA, a game where they lost by 26 points. They've had two wins over ranked opponents this season, beating Texas A&M and Alabama. 

(Credit: Getty Images)

Michigan State came into the year unranked but they have climbed up the ranks over the course of the year. It was a bit of a rough start to the year with them going just 5-2 over the past seven games. They fell early season to Kansas, losing by eight points. Later on in the Thanksgiving tournament, they dropped to Memphis, losing by eight points as well. After that, they won 13 straight games. That is until the month of February started when they have lost two straight games. They've dropped games against USC and UCLA over the past week. Neither of the losses were egregious, with them falling to USC by six points and losing to UCLA by two. I wouldn't call either UCLA or USC great, but both are likely to at least be considered for a bid to the tournament. With Michigan State returning home for this game, they should get a nice edge in this one. The balance on the team is something of a strength for the Spartans with 10 guys playing at least 15 minutes a game - much more than the average team. They also have seven guys that are averaging seven or more points.

Hopefully, there aren't too many Ducks fans reading this, because I think this is going to be a tough game for them. They may have stayed in Michigan for this game rather than returning to Oregon, but if they went back home, I think this is an even easier play for the Spartans. Michigan State should be able to control the tempo of this game, and utilize their deep roster to easily cover the number. Both are looking to end a losing skid, but I think the Spartans are more likely to respond and build a good lead here and not allow a backdoor cover. Back the Spartans in this one. 

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