Butler vs Michigan State Prediction - College Basketball Picks 11/17/23

Back on Monday versus East Tennessee State, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 45-20 edge at the break. Butler cruised from there in an 81-47 win. Leading the charge was DJ Davis on 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Posh Alexander added 13 points, and Landon Moore put up 12 points in just 19 minutes of work.

Michigan State Spartans

Over on the Spartans’ side, they’ve got a couple of tough losses sandwiched between a blowout win so far this year. Michigan State took a 79-76 defeat by James Madison in their opener, shooting 36.1 percent and going just 1-of-20 from 3-point range. Game two was a big turnaround however, as the Spartans prevailed over Southern Indiana 74-51.

In their last matchup on Tuesday versus Duke, the Spartans suffered a slow start with a 31-20 first-half deficit. Michigan State got better from there with 45 more points but still lost 74-65. Tyson Walker was tops in scoring with 22 points, and Malik Hall put up 18 points with three rebounds in the losing effort.

ANDREW’S FREE PICK

I’m going to try Butler in this one. You could make a case for Michigan State as well however; the Spartans should bounce back well after the loss to Duke. That said, the Bulldogs are looking great so far. Butler is coming off 44.9 percent shooting with 11-of-31 (35.5 percent) from 3-point range and a 41-39 rebounding edge versus East Tennessee State. The Bulldogs are scoring great so far with 81 or more points in each game.

As for Michigan State, they were pretty bad from the line (58.3 percent) and not spectacular from 3-point range again (6-of-19) in their latest loss to Duke. The Spartans also got pushed around on the boards with a 40-35 deficit. Michigan State is a great team however, and they should be able to bounce back in this one. I like Butler to make a good showing themselves as well, though.