There are a pair of games today with Michigan State heading to Rutgers and Oregon making a trip to Minnesota. Let’s take a look at the upcoming action.

#8 Michigan State Spartans at Rutgers Scarlet Knights

The Spartans will try to make it 12 in a row today on the road against Rutgers. Michigan State won in their last game against Illinois and remained undefeated in Big Ten play. Rutgers has had a rough run so far this season, with a road loss to Penn State earlier this week ending a two game winning streak. The Scarlet Knights enter the day one game above .500 and a 3-5 mark in league play.

There was a lot of hype entering the season for Rutgers and so far it has more or less been a disaster. Freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper have been great, both averaging north of 19 points per game. Past that no player is averaging more than 7.2 points per game as Rutgers struggles to do much of anything offensively outside of their freshmen duo. Even more problematic is the traditionally strong Rutgers defense has been a hot mess, currently ranked just outside the top 100 per KenPom and second worst in the league.

Michigan State fields an offense and defense both ranked inside the top 20 per KenPom. Their offensive efficiency is relatively surprising considering the Spartans shoot just 28.8% from three. Michigan State has been much better inside and is averaging just under 82 points per game.

Between Rutgers poor defense and lack of offensive weapons it’s hard to see them muster up enough scoring to upset an incredibly hot Spartans squad.

Michigan State

#15 Oregon Ducks at Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota will try to win three in a row at home against Oregon after knocking off Michigan and Iowa over the past week. Their opponent is an Oregon squad that bounced back nicely from a loss to Purdue with a 11 point win against Washington. The Ducks have gone 7-2 over their past nine games.

While winning on the road is hard the Ducks have won all three road games in conference play so far. A top 40 offense and defense, that balanced approach should prove beneficial against a pedestrian Minnesota offense. The Gophers have more or less been the Dawson Garcia show and as long as the Ducks frontcourt can slow down the forward they should be more than capable of picking up their fourth Big Ten road win.

Oregon