Michigan State vs North Dakota State: Game Preview & Best Bets (East Region, 2025-2026 NCAA Tournament)

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Michigan State vs North Dakota State: Game Preview

Michigan State vs North Dakota State is going to be a battle of talent, not game plan. Both teams play a similar style of defense, where they want to hedge, deny and play the gaps. Both teams limit transition buckets and, on the offensive side, usually win the shot volume battle through their rebounding. The obvious difference here is that the Bison played strictly mid-major teams while the Spartans had to navigate the depths of the Big Ten.

Michigan State has a size advantage here and has proven wins against tougher opponents; ultimately, we just trust them to do all these thing better than North Dakota State.

From a prop perspective, it's hard to trust anyone on North Dakota State. Their rotation is deep and, as a team, are high volume shooters from beyond the arc, leading to a large swing in variability. We'd rather not depend on that. On the Michigan State side, there is one angle we like: Jeremy Fears Jr. has averaged 9 assists per game against mid-major teams this year, and that number only drops down to an average of 8 assists per game against major conference teams that deploy a similar defensive style. The line here is, as of writing, at 8.5 assists, and we like taking the chance on the over. We just have to hope Sparty is able to have at least an average shooting night, as the Bison will want this to turn into a jump shot battle.

Michigan State vs North Dakota State: Best Bet

• Jeremy Fears Jr. over 8.5 assists (-135 on select books as of this writing)

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