Dusty May has already achieved a lot as the Michigan basketball head coach. One thing he hasn't done yet is beat Michigan State.
Tom Izzo and the Spartans got the best of Michigan in both meetings last season. Neither was particularly close either, with the Spartans winning each game by double digits.
Michigan was beaten on the boards and in transition. Michigan State did what it does. The formula will be the same on Friday. The Wolverines have assembled a team that's better suited to beat the Spartans, but winning in East Lansing will take a top-notch effort.
Odds give Michigan basketball a good shot to end Michigan State's winning streak
That's something we haven't seen recently. The Wolverines are 4-0 against ranked opponents this season. But there were some sloppy moments against Nebraska. U-M turned it over 18 times. Michigan also shot below 30 percent from 3-point range for the second straight game.
That has to change on Friday night. The Wolverines have been dominant at times this season, recording three wins over AP Top 25 opponents by 30 points or more. They have also failed to cover the spread the past eight games.
Some of those lines were inflated. Nebraska was down two of its top three scorers, and the Wolverines, a 10.5-point favorite, didn't come close to covering.
We will see if that storyline continues. Michigan is a1.5 point-favorite for Friday's game at the Breslin Center. That feels like fool's gold. The odds have weighed Michigan's early-season performance against its recent performance. That's how it feels, at least.
The odds do indicate that Michigan has the team capable of ending the four-game losing streak to the Spartans. The Wolverines will need to play better than they did on Tuesday, and more as they did early in the season, if they are going to beat Michigan State for the first time in five tries.