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Michigan vs. Vanderbilt prediction and odds for NIT second round

By Josh Yourish

Michigan Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson (1) on the court during the final seconds of Big Ten tournament action against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at United Center in Chicago on Thursday, March 9, 2023.Michbig 030923 Kd2266 Sad Michigan basketball
Michigan Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson (1) on the court during the final seconds of Big Ten tournament action against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at United Center in Chicago on Thursday, March 9, 2023.Michbig 030923 Kd2266 Sad Michigan basketball /
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The NIT tournament is heating up and giving us some interesting matchups of bubble teams that were left out of the big dance as we advance to the second round.

The Michigan Wolverines are a No. 2 seed in the NIT and took out Toledo, 90-80 in the first round. They’ll get the Vanderbilt Commodores who took down Yale, 71-62 in their opening game of the tournament.

This second round matchup in the NIT will be on Saturday at noon ET. Here are the odds for Michigan and Vanderbilt.

Michigan vs. Vanderbilt odds, spread and total

Michigan vs. Vanderbilt prediction and pick

Vanderbilt lost Liam Robbins down the stretch of the season and they became a different team, no longer built around the 7-footer. Now, today, they’ll go up against a 7-foot center, Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson. Vandy’s interior defense already wasn’t top level, 170th in opponent two point field goal percentage, but they’re even worse in that metric in their last three games. They could have a tough time stopping Dickinson inside because Robbins also averaged 3.2 blocks along with being their leading scorer.

Vanderbilt is 300th on the year in defensive rebounding percentage and they were only winning in the SEC Tournament because they were shooting the lights out. Against Kentucky, they won while Kentucky had 21 offensive rebounds. I love Michigan in this one because of their size and Vandy’s lack of it.

Follow all Josh Yourish’s bets HERE

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change