Michigan Laying 4 Points at Home to Oregon; Wolverines are 40-3 at Home Since Feb. 2017

• No. 10 Oregon visits No. 5 Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 14 (12:00 PM ET)
• No. 5 Michigan has lost two of three, but both were on the road
• No. 10 Oregon has also lost two of three and has yet to play a true road game

A meeting of top-10 teams is a treat at any point in the season, but neither No. 5 Michigan (8-2, 5-0 home) nor No. 10 Oregon (7-2, 0-0 road) is entering Saturday’s matchup at the Crisler Center (12:00 PM ET, Dec. 14th) with a head of steam.

Both teams have accumulated two losses in their past three games, meaning Saturday brings a chance to get back in the win column and begin building some forward momentum. As two teams currently featured in the top 15 of the 2020 NCAA Tournament odds, it’s a chance to add an impressive victory to their March Madness resume.

Odds taken Dec. 13

The Oregon vs. Michigan odds opened at UM -4.0 and haven’t moved in the early going.

Home Sweet Home

Michigan will be happy to be back in Ann Arbor’s Crisler Center to see its home fans. The Wolverines are a truly dominant home team, having won 40 of their past 43 home games since February 2017.

That includes a solid 103-91 win over Big Ten foe Iowa, in which the Wolverines had six players score double-digit points.

… the Wolverines opened B1G play with a 103-91 victory over Iowa at Crisler.

Yup … We got your 🎥 highlights#GoBlue 〽️🏀 pic.twitter.com/jWUy8D9e2h

— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) December 7, 2019

As for Oregon, home will be sorely missed. Through nine games, the Ducks have not played a true road game yet. They beat Memphis in a “semi-home” game (at a neutral site in Portland that was much closer for Oregon than it was for Memphis) and lost their other two neutral-site games in the Bahamas.

🎥: Film Room 2.3 ➡ @K30SMITH and @iget_buckets35
take a look back at a few plays from the Oregon game at Atlantis 🎬#CarolinaFamily pic.twitter.com/6MTlX7dNIy

— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) December 4, 2019

The Ducks went 5-7 on the road last season.

Key Player Questionable

There are no injuries to report on the Michigan side, but Oregon might be missing an impact player in this matchup.

Grad transfer Shakur Juiston is questionable for Saturday’s game with a leg injury. He missed last Saturday’s game against Hawaii, an 89-64 win for Oregon.

Ending the night with a look back at some highlights from today's win.#GoDucks | #AlwaysUs pic.twitter.com/qKevEneGNE

— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) December 8, 2019

Juiston had knee surgery to repair his meniscus last season, which caused him to miss all but the first month of the season. (He was with UNLV at the time.) There has been no report linking his current injury to what he went through a year ago.

Juiston leads the Ducks in rebounds (6.5 per game), scored a team-high 17 points in a win over Memphis, and had the winning basket in the final seconds against Seton Hall.

Shakur Juiston for the win! pic.twitter.com/Q1LhrFtxd3

— Oregon Men's Basketball (@OregonMBB) November 28, 2019

ATS Records

The Ducks have only been underdogs once this year and they won ATS in an OT loss to Gonzaga. Overall, Oregon is 7-2 ATS.

The Wolverines have been underdogs in three of their past four games and hold a 6-4 ATS record this year. But Michigan is 3-0 as a single-digit favorite, for what that’s worth.

Decision Time

Nothing about this matchup sticks out more than Michigan’s home dominance in recent years. Yes, the 40-3 record since February 2017 is inflated by some soft non-conference games, but there are still a lot of tough Big Ten matchups in there as well.

On the flip side, Oregon has struggled away from its home in the Pacific Northwest. With a key player potentially out, that doesn’t bode well for the Ducks.

Pick: Michigan -4.0 (+100)