Tip off: 7:30 PM EST, From Pittsburgh
Spread: MI ST -5.5
Total: 123
M/L: n/a
Odds taken from Bookmaker
Michigan State and Florida State are both unranked, but things might not stay that way for long. Both received votes in the last Coaches poll, with Michigan State garnering 8 votes, while formerly #20 ranked Florida State also received 25 votes.
FLORIDA STATE
Things started off very promising for the Florida State Seminoles, as they won their first five games, including an impressive blowout of Massachusetts and a 23 point win over a UCF team that later beat UCONN. Somehow, and quite perplexingly, they lost to Harvard, before falling by 2 to the UCONN team in the third place game.
Snaer, a 6’5″ junior guard had two impressive games to start the year, scoring 16 in the opener against Jacksonville and 15 against UCF. However, he has faded in the last two games, scoring only 16 in them conbined while shooting 5 of 12 from the floor and only 1 of 4 from down town. His usage rate has declined, as he is also averaging less assists and 5 less minutes on average than the opening two games. He put up 20 pionts in 38 minutes in the loss to UCONN. Snaer is now the only Seminole averaging double figures, and he is going to have to get better contributions from his teammates for the Seminoles to have any chance this season.
Devidas Dulkys, a 6’5″ senior guard from Lithuania, is goingto have to be more consistent. He has posted double figure scoring in 3 of his last 5 games, but scored 7 in the other two games combined. Such a disappearing act played prominent in the loss to Harvard, when Dulkys went 2 of 6 from the floor, including 1 of 5 from down town. He did make an impact defensively with 4 steals, but the Seminoles need his outside shooting for their offensive attack to be complete.
MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State had a rough start to the season. Quite understandably, they lost to the #1 team in the nation in UNC, and they dropped a close 5 point game to #6 ranked Duke. Since that time, they have gone on to beat Texas Southern (by 35), Arkansas Little Rock (by 22), Milwaukee (by 13), and Eastern Michigan (by 32).
A big reason for the lopsided victories has been the Spartans’ rebounding. They currently are the third best rebounding team in the nation with 43.5 boards per game.
Leading the way crashing the boards is leading scorer Draymond Green. The 6’7″ 230 pound senior is having his best season so far, averaging 12.7 points per game and 11.2 boards per night. In the loss to Duke, he put up 10 points and 7 rebounds, but also recorded four steals. It wasn’t his best performance, but Duke has one of the best frontlines in the NCAA so it was very encouraging to see him aggressive (He attempted 15 field goals, but made only 4).
Sophomore gunner Keith Appling hit 41% of his threes last season. This year he hasn’t been as hot at 30%, but he is still putting up a 2nd team high 10.7 points per game, while shooting 46.7% from the floor (4.5% higher than the Spartans Team FG%). He really has only had one good game this season, but it was a very good one: In the loss to Duke, he put up 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting, while hitting 4 of 5 from the line and also snatching 4 rebounds. If he can get up for other teams like he did for the Blue Devils, you’re talking about a guy who could potentially be a very dangerous player for the Spartans.
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