The No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers and the No. 2 seed Michigan State Spartans meet in the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Tigers have won all three tournament games by double digits, and in the Sweet 16, Auburn defeated Michigan 78-65. The Spartans narrowly edged out Ole Miss, 73-70, on Friday. Auburn aims to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2019, which also marked Michigan State’s last appearance.

Tip-off is set for 5:05 PM ET at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The latest odds from SportsLine list the Tigers as 5.5-point favorites with an over/under of 147 points. The Tigers stand as -228 money-line favorites.

“Before making your picks, ensure you review the advanced model from SportsLine that simulates every Division I college basketball game 10,000 times. This model has produced favored brackets that have outperformed over 91% of CBS Sports entries over the last six tournaments, alongside 25 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds.”

Why Michigan State can cover

Jaden Atkins averages a team-high 12.8 points per game with 3.6 rebounds. In the win over Ole Miss, Atkins recorded 13 points and four rebounds. Jase Richardson adds depth, averaging 12.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, and has scored 20-plus points in two of his last four games.

Why Auburn can cover

The Tigers are 13-8 against the spread when on equal rest as their opponent. Johni Broome leads Auburn with an average of 18.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Recently, he achieved 22 points and 16 rebounds in his last outing. Senior guard Denver Jones is another key player, scoring 11.0 points with an impressive shooting success.

How to make Michigan State vs. Auburn picks

According to the model, the total combined points prediction is 149, favoring the Over on the total. One side of the spread hits in over 50% of simulations. Visit SportsLine for details on which side to back. See model’s picks here.