Breslin Student Events Center – East Lansing, MI
Tip-off: Tuesday, 9:00 pm ET
Line: Michigan State -8.0, Total: 142.0

Both Ohio State and Michigan State will be hoping to keep their tournament hopes alive when the teams meet in East Lansing on Tuesday.

Ohio State and Michigan State are both on the outside of the tournament bubble right now, but both teams have enough time to turn things around and change that. The loser of this game will, however, be in a lot of trouble in that regard. The Spartans are the team that is playing the better basketball coming into this one. Ohio State is coming off of an 86-77 loss as 7.5-point road underdogs at Maryland on Saturday, and Michigan State has won three of its past four games after a 77-66 victory over Iowa on Saturday. The Buckeyes will, however, be the more confident team on Tuesday. That is because Ohio State beat Michigan State 72-67 as a 2.5-point home favorite on Jan. 15. The Buckeyes will surely feel like they have the recipe for success against the Spartans, but Michigan State had won-and-covered in the previous five meetings between the teams. One thing that favors the Buckeyes in this game is the fact that they have responded well to losses all season. They are 6-4 SU when coming off of a SU loss, and they are also 5-4 ATS in that same situation. The Spartans, meanwhile, will also have a trend working in their favor. They are an impressive 10-1 SU and 7-4 ATS when playing as a home favorite this season, and they’ll definitely welcome the opportunity to play in front of their fans on Tuesday.

If Ohio State is going to come away with a huge victory in East Lansing then F Marc Loving (12.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG) is going to need to have a big game. Loving has been inconsistent throughout his college career, but he is a very talented player and will definitely be eager to finish out his senior season on a positive note. Loving should be confident on Tuesday, as he is coming off of one of his best games of the year against Maryland on Saturday. The Buckeyes might have lost that game, but Loving had 24 points and five rebounds on 8-for-14 shooting from the floor. Loving was 4-for-8 from three in that game as well, and he’ll just need to come out and be aggressive on Tuesday. F Jae’Sean Tate (14.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG) will also need to do more of the same from Saturday. Tate filled up the box score in that one, finishing with 20 points, five boards, three assists, two steals and a block in 34 minutes of action. His activity all over the floor should give the Spartans some issues. If Loving and Tate can get going on Tuesday then all it will take is some minor contributions from the Ohio State supporting cast in this one. That is not too much to ask for, especially when the Buckeyes have other talented players like G JaQuan Lyle (11.4 PPG, 5.0 APG, 1.1 SPG) and F Trevor Thompson (10.8 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 1.7 BPG) around.

With the Spartans likely playing for their season on Tuesday, it can be expected that F Miles Bridges (16.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.7 BPG) will have a good game against Ohio State. Bridges was dominant the last time these teams met, finishing with 24 points and nine rebounds on 9-for-12 shooting from the floor and 4-for-5 shooting from three. He should be able to put forth a similar performance on Tuesday, as he’ll be more comfortable playing in front of the Spartan faithful. Bridges does, however, need some of his teammates to step it up. The Michigan State supporting cast has been the issue all season long, and the Spartans need that to change fast. Two guys that definitely have the talent to help Bridges in this game are C Nick Ward (13.1 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.8 BPG) and G Cassius Winston (7.1 PPG, 5.2 APG). Ward and Winston were the two that rose to the occasion against Iowa last game, combining to score 26 points off the bench. For Ward, it’s just a matter of staying out of foul trouble. He has the size and skill to punish any opponent he wants when on the floor. Winston, meanwhile, will just need to see an increase in minutes. He doesn’t always get time, but he can really shoot and knows how to score the basketball.