The Big Ten has offered several big-time matchups this season, but few have been as big as Tuesday’s game when the No. 13 ranked Purdue Boilermakers (19-7, 11-4 Big Ten) head to Lansing to face the No. 14 ranked Michigan State Spartans.
Purdue got off to a blistering start to conference play, owning an 11-2 record. But the Boilermakers have been on the short end of the scoring over the past week, dropping close decisions to Michigan and Wisconsin in back-to-back outings.
Michigan State isn’t setting the world on fire either, lately. The Spartans raced out to an unblemished start to Big Ten play, but the school has struggled by losing three of their five games in February.
The winner of this matchup will own sole possession of second place in the Big Ten. Which school can rise to the top in a battle for conference supremacy? We’ll cover that and our three favorite player prop bets below.
Purdue has a potential NBA starter on their hands in Trey Kaufman-Renn. The 6-foot-9 junior is averaging 19.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per night while shooting 60.9 percent from the field, the 13th-best percentage in the NCAA this season.
The forward sharp-shooter may be known for his scoring prowess, but Kaufman-Renn is also the team’s leading rebounder this season. Michigan State will focus their defensive efforts on the junior, attempting to keep him from easy, short attempts.
That will hurt his ability to rebound, too, giving bettors confidence to take the under on this player prop bet.
The Spartans’ scoring leader is senior guard Jaden Akins. The 6-foot-4 player is logging only 13.2 points per game, but he’s scored in double figures in 18 games this season, including a season-high 25 points against Samford earlier this season.
Michigan State is a deep team with several reserves contributing offensively each night. Akins is the most consistent scoring threat the Spartans have, and they’ll need his help tonight against Purdue. Take the over on this player prop bet for Akins.
Braden Smith is having a strong season for the Boilermakers. The junior guard followed up his strong efforts last year with an even better performance, averaging 16.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 8.8 assists for Purdue this season. He’s second in the country dishing out assists in 2024-2025.
What makes a difference in Smith’s game is whether he’s feeding his teammates. When Smith’s a distributor, he’ll often score less than a dozen points and have strong assist and rebounding totals. When he’s needed to score, the 6-foot guard can create his own shot and score at will.
Against Michigan State, the Boilermakers will need every aspect of his game to be on for Purdue to win. With the Spartans concentrating on Kaufman-Renn, expect Smith to have a strong scoring day and easily eclipse this combo prop bet on Tuesday.
The Spartans are beginning their toughest stretch this season as five of the team’s last six opponents are ranked this week. Outside of a loss against Indiana, Michigan State’s other two losses came on their west coast Big Ten swing against USC and UCLA.
That makes Tuesday’s game against the Boilermakers a must-win event for Michigan State. With three of the team’s six remaining games on the road, a win tonight will help the Spartans keep a top four position in the Big Ten and earn a bye into the quarterfinal matchups. Expect Tom Izzo’s squad to do that and win by at least four points against Purdue.