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The 9th seed Michigan State Spartans face the 8th seed Miami Hurricanes in a Midwest Region first round NCAA Tournament game that will take place at a neutral site at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma Friday March 17th at 9:20 PM ET. The Hurricanes hit the board as a -2.5 point spread favorite over the Spartans and have held that number. Likewise for the over/under line that opened at 125.5 on many NCAA odds boards and hasn’t budged.
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Michigan State is coming off a 63-58 loss to Minnesota in their last game where they failed to cover the spread as a 1.5-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 121, which was under the closing line of 137. Previous to the Minnesota game the Spartans had covered the spread in two straight games and in their last three games the total has gone under every time. Michigan State has lost three of their last four games.
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Miami is coming off a 78-53 loss to a ranked North Carolina team in their last game where they failed to cover the spread as an 8.5-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 131, which was under the closing line of 137.5. The Hurricanes have failed to cover the spread in three of their last four games and in their last six games the total has gone under every time. Miami has lost three of their last four games.
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Offensively, Michigan State is putting up 71.7 points per game on a 46.8% FG average. On the defensive side of things the Spartans are allowing 68.4 points per game on a 40.7% FG average.
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Miami is putting up 69.4 points per game on a 45.3% FG average, which ranks 17th in the nation. On defense the Hurricanes are allowing 63.7 points per game on a 41.4% FG average.
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These teams last met in the 2012 season where Miami beat Michigan State 67-59.
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Michigan State Spartans at Miami Hurricanes Betting Trends<br />
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Michigan State is 4-2 against the spread in their last 6 games.
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The game total has gone under in 7 of Michigan State’s last 8 games at a neutral site.
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The game total has gone under in 5 of Miami’s last 5 games.
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The game total has gone over in 21 of Michigan State’s last 28 games overall.
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The game total has gone over in 10 of Miami’s last 12 NCAA tournament games.
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Public Money Consensus<br />
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In this NCAAB matchup between Michigan State and Miami Florida have the public just slightly betting on the Spartans getting the 2 points on the road with 51%. The over/under bettors are banking on this game staying under the posted total line of 125.5 with 53% on board.
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