Thursday, May 17th, 2012
The sixth seeded Tennessee Volunteers will face the 5th seeded Michigan St Spartans in an NCAA Tournament Midwest regional final to be played on Sunday afternoon. Tip off time from the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis Missouri is scheduled for 2:20PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by CBS.
The LVSC college basketball odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and it was the Tennessee Volunteers coming in as a 2 point betting favorite with the over under coming in at 135.
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The NCAA Tournament bettors have come in early with their money on the underdog Michigan St Spartans, as the Tennessee Volunteers are currently a 1-½ point betting favorite. The total has seen early movement upward, as the over under is currently lined at 135 ½ for the gamblers to bet into.
Those looking to play on the favored Tennessee Volunteers will lay –125 odds with the underdog Michigan St Spartans returning +110 to win this game without the aid of getting the points on their side.
These teams are meeting for the first time on Sunday.
Tennessee earned their way towards the Midwest regional final off their 76-73 upset victory against the Ohio St Buckeyes as a 5-point underdog. Ohio St held the 42-39 halftime lead but the Volunteers were able to win the end game to pull out the three-point win. Tennessee had a good shooting night hitting on 46% of their shots and 80% from the charity stripe. Senior forward Wayne Chism had a good game on Friday night with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting from the field and 11 big boards. Brian Williams contributed with 12 boards, which is 6 over his season average for the Volunteers. Tennessee dominated the glass by winning the rebounding battle by a 36-23 margin. Tennessee was able to survive 15 turnovers.
Tennessee began this NCAA Tournament with a 62-59 victory against the San Diego St Aztecs from the Mountain West conference as 3-point favorites. They then blew out the Ohio Bobcats 83-68 as 8 ½ point favorites in their second round game. The Vols were on fire from the field against the MAC conference tournament champions with 56.7% shooting in their win.
Michigan St qualified for the Midwest regional final off their 59-52 victory against the Northern Iowa Panthers the Missouri Valley conference champions. Northern Iowa stormed out to the 29-22 first half lead but it was the Spartans with the 37-23 second half performance that punched their ticket into the Elite 8. Michigan St put on an impressive second half performance on the defensive end allowing no field goals to Northern Iowa in the games final 10 minutes. The Spartans hit on 43% of their shots and 7 of 19 from three. There was no mid major magic from the Panthers on this night as the mid major squad shot only 38% from the field, 66% from the free throw line and only 4 of 25 from the three point line. The Spartans dominated the rebounding with a 31-20 margin over the Panthers. Guard Durrell Summers led the Spartans with 19 points and 7 boards in victory.
Michigan St began play in this NCAA Tournament with the 70-67 victory against the New Mexico St Aggies. The Spartans survived a second half run by the Aggies to hold on for victory. Michigan St only shot for 37.7% in their round 1 victory. Michigan St then eliminated the Maryland Terrapins 85-83 as a 1-½ point underdog in the Round of 32. It was an outstanding shooting night for Michigan St as they hit for 55.2% in victory.
Michigan St is the better shooting team as they hit on 47.3% of their shots to the Volunteers 45.3% from the field. The Spartans are also the better rebounding team averaging 39 boards a game to Tennessee’s 36.7.
Trend: Tennessee Volunteers are 8-1 straight up in their past 9 games
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