The Michigan Wolverines will try to complete a season sweep of the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday when they meet at Assembly Hall at 6:30 p.m. ET. Michigan needs a win to stay within a game of first-place Michigan State, which routed Iowa on Thursday. The Hoosiers have lost five straight and desperately need a win in order to salvage their season and bolster their NCAA Tournament resume. Plus, they have lost just once on their home court this season. Michigan won the first matchup between these clubs 74-63 on Jan. 6 in Ann Arbor, and both teams come in sub-.500 against the spread this season. The Wolverines are 4.5-point favorites, up one from the opener, while the over-under for total points scored is 133.5 in the latest Michigan vs. Indiana odds. Before you lock in your Michigan vs. Indiana picks and college basketball predictions for Friday, check out what SportsLine senior analyst Josh Nagel has to say.
A Nevada-based expert with more than 20 years of experience in the sports wagering industry, Nagel specializes in handicapping college athletics. He is off to a sizzling start in college basketball, entering Friday with a 21-5 record in spread picks for SportsLine members. Moreover, he's had a keen eye for the tendencies of these programs and boasts a 12-3 spread mark on games involving Michigan or Indiana over the past two seasons.
On Tuesday night, Nagel advised SportsLine members that the Wolverines were likely due for a flat spot against scrappy Minnesota (+12.5) ahead of their Friday showdown with the Hoosiers. The result: Michigan needed a buzzer-beater from Charles Matthews to pull out the victory, and anyone who followed Nagel's advice booked another comfortable winner.
Now, Nagel has analyzed Michigan vs. Indiana from every angle and released a confident point-spread pick that is only available at SportsLine.
Nagel knows the fifth-ranked Wolverines will be eager to complete a season sweep of Indiana in order to maintain sole possession of second place in the Big Ten, one game ahead of Maryland. They also are looking to recapture the form that saw them win their first 17 games of the season before hitting a bit of a rough patch the past two outings.
The Wolverines (18-1, 7-1) rolled to a 74-63 win over Indiana in their first matchup on Jan. 6. They attacked the Hoosiers from the outset and built a 20-point lead. Michigan fended off a late Indiana rally to seal the double-digit victory. Matthews and Jordan Poole had 18 points each for the Wolverines, who shot 50 percent from the field and made their free throws down the stretch when the game got tight.
But just because the Wolverines dominated the first meeting doesn't mean they'll cover Friday's Michigan vs. Indiana spread.
Nagel also knows the Hoosiers were considered a darkhorse Big Ten title contender mostly because of a strong recruiting class that ranked in the top five by most scouting outlets. Romeo Langford has proven to be an instant star, but the Hoosiers have been hampered by a series of injuries and other setbacks. Junior guard Devonte Green was suspended indefinitely before the Northwestern game and won't play Friday.
Indiana once appeared headed toward a breakout season at 12-2, but the five-game losing streak threatens to dim its NCAA Tournament hopes. The Hoosiers haven't lost more than five consecutive games since 2001. Most bracket analysts currently have them as a bubble team, but a win over Michigan would improve their profile. Indiana is a perfect 2-0 against the spread when the line was between +2 and +6 this season.
We can tell you Nagel is leaning toward the Over, but his much stronger play is on the spread. He has scoured this matchup and identified the critical X-factor that makes one side of the spread a must-back. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.
Who wins Michigan vs. Indiana? And what critical X-factor causes one side of the spread to hit hard? Visit SportsLine now to see which side you should be all over Friday, all from the senior analyst who's hitting 80 percent of his picks involving these teams, and find out.
