The Oregon Ducks and the Michigan State Spartans meet Friday in college basketball action from Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Oregon is 2-3 so far this year. The Ducks are coming off a loss to UConn. As for Michigan State, they’re sitting at 3-2 this year and coming off a loss to Alabama. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Oregon began their season with a win over Florida A&M and a loss to UC Irvine. The Ducks were able to rebound in game three with an 81-51 blowout win over Montana State, then Oregon fell to Houston back on Sunday.
In the Thursday matchup versus UConn, Oregon was down 39-28 by halftime. The Ducks were outscored 44-31 from there in an 83-59 loss. Kel’el Ware led the team on 18 points and nine boards, while N’Faly Dante added 15 points.
Over on the Michigan State side, they began their year with a 73-55 blowout win over Northern Arizona, then fell 64-63 versus Gonzaga in a tough result. The Spartans bounced back with wins over Kentucky and Villanova in the next pair.
On Thursday matched up against Alabama, Michigan State trailed 42-37 going into the second half. The Spartans gave up 39 more points in the second half during an 81-70 loss. Tyson Walker topped the team on 21 points, and AJ Hoggard added 18 points.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with Michigan State. On Thursday, the Spartans were worn out by the second half versus a good Alabama team and never really got control of the game. Michigan State ended up with a sketchy 38.1 percent shooting and a 45-43 rebounding advantage. Granted, the Spartans probably should have performed better and I like them to bounce back here.
As for Oregon, there was really no way they were going to be close in the UConn loss Thursday. The Huskies shot a brisk 47.6 percent from the floor and 45.9 percent (17-of-37) from 3-point range and the Ducks couldn’t keep up. This one probably won’t be as crazy scoring-wise but I still don’t think Oregon will get into a cover.