The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Michigan Wolverines meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Crisler Center. Rutgers is 16-10 on the year so far and coming off a loss to Purdue. As for Michigan, they’re currently 14-11 so far. The Wolverines lost to Wisconsin in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Rutgers posted a 1-3 stretch back in late January/early February, leaving the team at 12-9 overall. The Knights then hit a win streak over Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Illinois before a loss to Purdue over the weekend.
On Sunday versus the Boilermakers, the Knights were down 36-45 by halftime. Rutgers was outscored 36-39 from there in an 84-72 loss. Paul Mulcahy was the team’s leading scorer on 15 points with six assists.
Over on the Michigan side, they opened the year at 7-4 but have been quite sketchy in these conference games overall. The Wolverines are on a 1-2 run right now, beating Iowa between losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Matched up against Wisconsin on Sunday, the Wolverines started out on a solid 31-31 first-half run. Michigan was outscored 32-46 in the second for a 77-63 defeat. Hunter Dickinson was tops with 21 points and five rebounds in the loss.
Michigan is 0-4 ATS in their last four Wednesday games and 26-12-1 ATS in the last 39 after a straight-up loss. The over is 8-3 in the Wolverines’ last 11 overall.
Meanwhile, the Knights are 3-7-1 ATS in their last 11 road games and 5-0-1 ATS in their last six overall. The under is 18-7 in Rutgers’ last 25 Wednesday games.
PICK: I’m staying with Rutgers. The Knights had themselves an epic run to start the month, taking out four ranked teams in a row—three of them in convincing fashion. Rutgers has already tangled with Michigan before, taking a 75-67 win at home back on January 4. Michigan has been a mixed bag lately but generally they’ve done well at home over the last few games. That said, I don’t think they’ve got the gas to keep the cover pace on a hot Rutgers team.