Michigan State vs Minnesota Betting Line; March Madness Predictions & Picks

michigan state vs minnesota betting line

Getty Cassius Winston of the Michigan State Spartans, who face the Minnesota Gophers.

With two early victories on Thursday in the March Madness Tournament, Michigan State and Minnesota punched their respective tickets to the second round in the East region. While Minnesota picked up a comfortable wire win over Louisville in the first game of the day, Michigan State would struggle mightily against 15th ranked Bradley. Finally able to pull away late, Michigan State won by 11 but the game was far closer than the final score indicated.

Let’s take a look at the betting line and predictions for this March Madness showdown.


#2 Michigan State Spartans vs #10 Minnesota Golden Gophers Betting Line

(Betting Line and Total courtesy of 

Minnesota, on the other hand, had a very convincing win over Louisville as head coach Richard Pitino took on the school where his father was forced out from in 2017. While Gabe Kalscheur technically led the Gophers in scoring, every single starter took between 10 and 14 attempts from the field to go with scoring in double digits. The bench chipped in some solid minutes when the starters were sitting, but the story of the day was the incredibly balanced and efficient offensive attack from the Gophers.

This is a tough game to predict as Michigan State is certainly not as bad as they looked for the majority of their game against Bradley. At their best, Michigan State is a defensive juggernaut that creates tons of points off turnovers and loves to get high percentage looks at the rim. Against Bradley, they actually lost the turnover battle and found themselves settling for more mid-range shots and deep twos.

Although we don’t know exactly which Michigan State will show up, it is unlikely that Minnesota is able to beat the loaded Spartan lineup. That said, I do expect this game to be very close throughout with Michigan State pulling ahead late for the win.

Predicted Score: Michigan State – 77, Minnesota – 73

Pick: Minnesota +10.5