College Basketball Odds: Minnesota at No. 8 Michigan State

Michigan State leads Minnesota 33-25 at the half. (AP Images)

Michigan State begins its longest conference homestand of the season – three games – on Wednesday night against Minnesota with a chance to take early control of the Big Ten race. And the Spartans are 7.5-point betting favorites against the Gophers on Bodog’s college basketball odds.

Minnesota (12-4, 9-6 ATS) has won seven of eight games and is 3-1 to start Big Ten play. The Gophers seem to go as Blake Hoffarber goes. He is second on the team in averaging 12.2 points per game, but in Big Ten games his average is a team-high 16.2 per game. He leads the Big Ten in three-point shooting at 52 percent (second in the country) and scored a career-best 27 points with seven three-pointers in Saturday's home win over Ohio State. But in Minnesota’s loss at Purdue last week, he had just 3 points.

Michigan State (13-3, 6-9 ATS) is 9-0 at home this season (3-5 ATS) and hasn’t been too challenged in its three Big Ten wins so far (3-0 ATS). The Spartans have won 21 of their past 23 games at the Breslin Center. They are the best shooting team in the Big Ten -- Minnesota leads the conference in defensive field goal percentage -- and second in the nation in rebounding. MSU is 12-0 when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting and 13-1 when outrebounding them.

When making your college basketball get at Bodog on this game, know that the Spartans have won 11 of the last 13 and 16 of the last 19 meetings against the Gophers, including all three games last year (Big Ten Tournament included). Minnesota doesn’t have an official win in East Lansing since the 1989-90 season. The Gophers are historically a great home team (10-0 this year) but very iffy on the road – they are just 1-2 in true road games this season (1-2 ATS). This one probably won’t be very close.

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