- Analysis
- The Kansas State Wildcats disposed of Kentucky last weekend, while the Michigan State Spartans toppled No. 2-seeded Marquette. Now the pair of upstarts will square off in the national tournament’s East Region semifinals tonight at Madison Square Garden.
Michigan State is a winner of four of its last five games, including back-to-back victories over USC and the aforementioned Marquette, in the opening two rounds of the tourney.
Though known for its strong and physical style of play on the defensive end, the Spartans have been more than respectable offensively, putting up 70.6 points per game, on a stellar 40.1% shooting mark from 3-point territory this season.
In fact, they’ve been even more productive over their last eight games, posting 74.1 ppg while shooting an outstanding 46.1% from the floor, both of which are well above the national average.
Kansas State, on the other hand, is coming off consecutive wins as well, reaching this matchup after defeating Montana State and Kentucky in rounds one and two.
The Wildcats, who’ve seen the Over post in each of their last four national tournament tilts, have also been getting it done on both ends, especially on offense where they’re averaging a steady 75.8 ppg, ranked 83rd nationally, and a slightly better 77 ppg over its last five outings.
The Over is 7-3 for the Spartans in games following a straight-up win, as well as four of the Wildcats’ last five games overall. So, with those trends in play, do the intelligent thing and bank on the final score to post Over its projected total by the time this one is in the books.
