Michigan State vs. North Dakota State NCAA Tournament Odds and Predictions The 14th-seeded North Dakota State Bison will face the third-seeded Michigan State Spartans in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament East Region on Thursday. The matchup takes place at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, with tipoff scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET. This will be the first meeting between the two programs. North Dakota State, which has won four consecutive games, secured its place in the tournament by defeating North Dakota 70-62 in the Summit League Tournament championship on March 8. The Bison finished the regular season with a 14-2 conference record and a 27-7 overall mark. Michigan State, meanwhile, fell to UCLA 88-84 in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. The Spartans, who have lost two straight games, tied for second in the Big Ten with a 15-5 conference record and a 25-7 overall record. The game carries significant betting implications, with Michigan State listed as a 15.5-point favorite in the latest odds. The total points scored are projected to exceed 143.5, with the over line showing strong historical performance. Michigan State has covered the spread in eight of its last 10 games, while North Dakota State has gone 5-5 against the spread in its past 10 contests. SportsLine’s Projection Model, which has demonstrated a strong track record in NCAA Tournament predictions, simulated the matchup 10,000 times. The model’s analysis suggests the Bison could have two players scoring 10.4 points or more, including Damari Wheeler-Thomas, who is projected to contribute 14.2 points. Michigan State is expected to have four players scoring 12 points or more, led by Jeremy Fears Jr., who is projected to tally 17.2 points.#big_ten_tournament #michigan_state_spartans #north_dakota_state_bison #summit_league_tournament #keybank_center
Summit League Preview: NDSU vs. UND North Dakota State men's basketball is back in the Summit League championship game for the 10th time in 14 years. The Bison take on in-state rival North Dakota at 8 p.m. tonight inside the Denny Sanford Premier Center. NDSU cruised to a 74-50 semifinal win over Omaha on Saturday night, holding the defending league champions to 30% shooting. The big men dominated for the Bison as Treyson Anderson had 16 points on just eight field goal attempts while Noah Feddersen had his second straight double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds. A win for NDSU would be its first Summit League Tournament title since 2020. The Bison swept the Fighting Hawks by an average margin of victory of 25 points during the regular season. A dominant second half guided NDSU to an 83-66 win in Grand Forks before a blowout 96-63 win in front of a record crowd at the SHAC just eight days ago. The Bison made 16 threes in that game, seven by Tay Smith, and held UND to 31% shooting. The Bison and Fighting Hawks last met in the Summit League Tournament for the 2020 championship game. NDSU blew out UND, 89-53, in that game en route to its fifth Summit title. Through two tournament games, NDSU has held its opponents to 34.3% shooting and 29 turnovers. UND, the 3 seed in this year's tournament, came away with a 67-66 upset win over No. 2 seed St. Thomas last night. The Hawks trailed by seven, 47-40, in the second half, but ended the game on a 27-19 run. Eli King came away with an errant Austin Herro pass and George Natsvlishvili hit a free throw with 0.1 second to play, giving UND its second berth into the Summit League title game. Greyson Uelmen had another solid performance, scoring 2,8 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Uelmen averaged 14.#denny_sanford_premier_center #north_dakota_state #university_of_north_dakota #summit_league_tournament #summit_league_championship_game
