College Hoops Betting Preview: Purdue at Michigan State

A battle of two nationally-ranked Big Ten teams will be the featured attraction in college basketball on Tuesday when No. 10 Michigan State hosts No. 6 Purdue (9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN).

The Spartans lead the Big Ten with a 9-2 record but Purdue is right behind at 7-3. Michigan State is listed as a 2.5-point favorite at SBG Global.

The key for Tuesday’s matchup could be whether or not Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas is healthy enough to play. Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said that it is “completely up in the air” whether Lucas will play or not. Lucas has said that he wants to play but Izzo does not want to risk any further injury to Lucas’ ankle.

It was just a week ago that Michigan State was a Top-5 team and in firm control of the Big Ten with a three-game lead. However, after Lucas got hurt, the Spartans lost to Wisconsin and Illinois and now the Big Ten is up for grabs again.

“It keeps us in the mix and puts a bunch of teams lumped in the next section of the conference right on their tails,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said.

The team to watch in the Big Ten are the Boilermakers, who are now playing better than any team in the conference.

“We haven’t won the Big Ten, we’ve finished second the past couple years, people talk about it and at times it can affect your mindset and your play and then what we really try to get to our guys is just to worry about the process, worry about the things you can control,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.

“And we need to take care of the basketball, need to take good shots, we need to block out instead of talking in theory about the race or another team.”

Here are some key college basketball betting stats for Tuesdays game:

Purdue is winning games but it’s not always covering the spread. The Boilermakers have won five in a row straight up but they are just 2-3 against the spread.

The Boilermakers are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games. The Boilermakers are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings against Michigan State.

The Spartans are 2-5 ATS in their last seven home games. The Spartans are 0-4 ATS in their last four games overall.

The over is 4-0 in the Boilermakers’ last four road games. The under is 16-6 in the Spartans’ last 22 vs. the Big Ten.

The under is 7-3 in the Spartans’ last 10 overall. The under is 6-1 in the last seven meetings between the Boilermakers and Spartans at Michigan State.

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