Michigan State Spartans at North Carolina Tar Heels
Odds provided by BetUS.com.
LINE: (UNC -2)
Rematch? What rematch?
Michigan State (5-1 SU, 2-3 ATS) and North Carolina (6-1 SU, 2-4 ATS) faced each other in last season’s National Championship, which the heavily-favored Tar Heels dominated 89-72 and covered as 7.5-point faves.
While the media will play this up as a revenge game of the 2009 title game, Michigan State is going up against a completely different North Carolina squad. Gone from Chapel Hill are Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, and Bobby Frasor. Now leading the way are Deon Thompson (17.7 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Ed Davis (12.7 ppg, 9.9 rpg) and Marcus Ginyard (11.4 ppg, 4.1 apg).
The Tar Heels can no longer run like they did with Lawson at the helm, nor can they light it up from long range like they did with Ellington and Green. Their new style features a heavy dose of Thompson and Davis hammering opponents in the paint.
Larry Drew II has been up-and-down (7.7 ppg, 6.7 apg, 3.0 turnovers per game)while assuming the tough task of replacing Lawson at point guard, but he is coming off his best game as a Tar Heel on Sunday night against Nevada. The sophomore scored 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting and dished out 10 assists at the expense of only one turnover in a hard-fought 80-73 home victory.
Sparty still flexing muscle
While Tom Izzo has most of his runner-up team intact, center Goran Suton and guard Travis Walton have departed. Suton was the Spartans’ best player against Carolina, scoring 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Michigan State boasts no true center this year, but Draymond Green (10.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg) and Delvon Roe (7.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg) are big bodies who can be physical with Thompson and Davis.
Junior guard Kalin Lucas, who led the team in points per game last season, is taking on an even greater scoring role in Suton’s absence. Lucas (17.2 ppg, 3.1 apg) is shooting 54 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point range through six games.
In the Holiday spirit
Michigan State’s one loss this season came against unranked Florida in the semifinals of the Legends Classic on Saturday. The Spartans turned the ball over 23 times, leading to 28 Florida points, before falling 77-74.
“I'm shocked we were even in the game the way we turned it over,” Izzo said. “I mean, the things we could have done poorly, we did about as top notch as we could do them.”
North Carolina is turning the ball over 17.3 times per game this season, after making only 12.4 donations per game during last year’s title run. Against the two ranked teams they have faced this season, the Tar Heels turned it over 19 times in a 77-73 win over Ohio State before giving the ball away 18 times to Syracuse in an 87-71 Orangemen victory.
Milestone men
North Carolina’s win over Nevada on Sunday night gave Roy Williams his 600th career victory. Williams, the 33rd coach in NCAA history to reach the 600-mark, is the third-fastest to do it, needing only 739 games.
Michigan State bounced back from its loss to Florida with a 73-58 victory over Massachusetts in the Legends Classic third-place game on Saturday. It was Izzo’s 341st coaching victory as head man of the Spartans, making him the all-time wins leader at the school ahead of Jud Heathcote.
Izzo, however, is 0-4 against the Tar Heels since Roy Williams arrived in Chapel Hill. North Carolina has dominated all four contests—three in the NCAA tournament—by a combined 82 points.
Big Ten challenged
The Big Ten has never won the ACC-Big Ten challenge since the event’s inception in 1999. For those counting, that means the conference sports a dismal 0-10 record. Overall, Big Ten teams have combined for a dreadful 35-62 mark in those games.
The Tar Heels are a mediocre 5-5 in this competition, but they have won four straight and five of their last six. North Carolina visited East Lansing last December and routed the Spartans 98-63.
At 5-4, Michigan State is the only Big Ten team that owns a winning record in this annual showdown against the ACC.
And for any bettors thinking about playing the over/under, the Spartans are seventh in the nation in scoring at 86.2 points per game. The Tar Heels rank 17th nationally, pouring in 83.7 points per contest.