Betting line revealed for Michigan basketball vs. Rutgers in Big Ten Tournament
No. 8 seed Michigan Wolverines basketball will take on No. 9 seed Rutgers Thursday afternoon (noon ET) in the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center in Chicago. The Maize and Blue are 2.5-point favorites, per the DraftKings Sportsbook, with the over/under set at 133 points. The winner takes on top-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals Friday.
Michigan and Rutgers met just once in the regular season, with the Wolverines winning 58-45 at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway Feb. 23.
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The Maize and Blue have covered the spread in each of the last five games, including that victory over the Scarlet Knights. They were 5.5-point underdogs on the road but smashed the expectations. Michigan is 17-13-1 against the spread on the season.
Kenpom has Michigan as a 1-point favorite over Rutgers, predicting a 67-66 game and giving the Wolverines a 51-percent chance to win.
However, Las Vegas’ line better reflects how the two teams are playing at the current moment. Michigan has won six of its last 10 games and ranks 16th in the nation in overall efficiency since Feb. 1, per T-Rank. Rutgers, meanwhile, has lost six of its last eight contests after starting wing Mawot Mag went down with a season-ending ACL injury Feb. 4.
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The Scarlet Knights are 18-13 against the spread on the season, but have covered only twice in their last eight outings.
The total has gone under in 19 of Rutgers’ 31 games, including in seven of its last nine. The total has gone over in 18 of Michigan’s 31 contests, including in each of the last three. The total was 135 in the Feb. 23 game between Michigan and Rutgers, but only 103 points were scored.
Per DraftKings Sportbook, Michigan has the eighth-best odds to win the Big Ten Tournament (+1800), behind Purdue (+160), Indiana (+450), Michigan State (+600), Maryland (+700), Northwestern (+950), Illinois (+1200) and Iowa (+1600).
Michigan won its first Big Ten Tournament 14-straight events from 2007 to 2021, before losing to Indiana in the 8-9 game last year in Indianapolis. The tournament was last played in Chicago in 2019, when the third-seeded Wolverines made the championship game but lost to Michigan State.
Big Ten Tournament point spreads (via DraftKings Sportsbook)
Wednesday
• No. 13 seed Ohio State vs. No. 12 seed Wisconsin (6:30 p.m. ET) — Ohio State -2, over/under 130.5
• No. 14 seed Minnesota vs. No. 11 seed Nebraska (9 p.m. ET) — Nebraska -5.5, over/under 138
Thursday
• No. 9 seed Rutgers vs. No. 8 seed Michigan (noon ET) — Michigan -2.5, over/under 133
• No. 10 seed Penn State vs. No. 7 seed Illinois (6:30 p.m. ET) — Illinois -3, over/under 141.5
*The rest of the Big Ten Tournament game lines are yet to be announced. Also on Thursday, Iowa plays the winner of Ohio State and Wisconsin, and Maryland takes on the winner of Minnesota and Nebraska.
