11/9 Big Ten Preview: Southern Indiana at Michigan State

The Big Ten is back after taking last night off with a pair of games. Let’s take a look at the upcoming action.

Game of the Night

Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles at #4 Michigan State Spartans

• Time/TV: 7:00 PM ET BTN
• Line: Michigan State -26.5

In the first game tonight Michigan State will look to bounce back from an unlikely overtime loss to James Madison in the season opener. In that loss an experienced Spartans team shot 36.1% from the field and an icy 1 of 20 from beyond the arc. Their inability to shoot the ball led to the massive upset. Outside of Tyson Walker, who scored 35 points, only one other player reached double figures.

Their opponent tonight is Southern Indiana. The Screaming Eagles lost their season opener by 12 to Saint Louis.

Tom Izzo was pretty candid that he might toy with the starting lineup and will be willing to start underclassmen if it works better than their outing against James Madison. Luckily for the Spartans their matchup tonight features a considerably worse mid-major so they should be more than capable of winning easily while Izzo tries to piece things together with his starting rotation.

Pick: Michigan State

The Rest

Florida A&M Rattlers at Nebraska Cornhuskers

• Time/TV: 8:00 PM ET BTN+
• Line: Nebraska -24.5

Nebraska will look to improve to 2-0 tonight against Florida A&M on BTN+. In their season opener the Cornhuskers ran past Lindenwood on their way to an 84-52 victory. Nebraska was relatively balanced in the opener, with four starters reaching double figures. Nebraska is still without sharpshooter Keisei Tominaga, though they should be fine against a Florida A&M ranked 344th in the current KenPom ratings.

In their opener the Rattlers lost to Creighton by 51 points in a game where they shot 35.9% from the field and were outrebounded 53-21. Things will be a touch easier tonight with Nebraska, but the Rattlers are still undersized and outmatched even if the Cornhuskers are without one of their best players. Things won’t get much easier for Florida A&M, either, with Florida and Oregon on deck.

Nebraska should once again win big.

Pick: Nebraska