Notre Dame-Michigan State Betting Preview

The challenge for Michigan State coach Tom Izzo in the early going is finding a replacement for Cassius Winston, who quarterbacked the Spartans from the point guard position for the last three seasons and finished as the Big Ten's all-time leader in assists. With Winston now with the Washington Wizards in the NBA, Izzo is looking to junior guard Foster Loyer to fill the shoes. In Loyer's season debut on Wednesday, he did a capable job as he finished with a career-high 20 points, including six three-pointers, in an 83-67 victory over Eastern Michigan. The Spartans also got a boost from the return of Joshua Langford (10 points), who hadn't played since December of 2018 because of foot injuries.

How good the new MSU backcourt will be should get a bigger test tonight as the Spartans host Notre Dame, which is starting its 2020-21 campaign after having the scheduled opener against Tennessee canceled on Friday because of COVID-19. Coach Mike Brey has plenty of experience to call on from a team that went 20-12 last year, including the returning backcourt of Prentiss Hubb (12.1 ppg) and Dane Goodwin (10.8 ppg). They'll be joined by Stanford transfer Cormac Ryan, who averaged 8.7 ppg in 2018-19. 

Tip off is 8:00 p.m. ET at Jack Breslin Student Events Center.

Dunkel's Pick:

Vegas has listed the Spartans as a 10.5-point favorite and Dunkel is backing the Fighiting Irish plus the points as MSU is calculated as only 6 points stronger. MSU comes in only 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games as a favorite and 1-4 ATS in its last 5 home games. Dunkel also has the final score coming in just under the Vegas line of 148 with a calculated point total of 146. The Spartans have gone under in 6 of their last 8 games as a home favorite.

Dunkel's Pick: Notre Dame (+10.5); Under

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