Let’s move to the Big 10 Tournament and look at a quarterfinal game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan State Spartans, which will be played at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Big 10 Network will carry this game, which has a start time of 6:30 pm EST.
Current betting odds for this game have the have the Spartans listed as 13 point favorites, while the total has been set at 142.5.
The Ohio State Buckeyes have had a decent year as they come in at 20-12, while going 11-7 in Big 10 play this year and they have gone 6-2 in their last 8 games. They did struggle some in their opening game vs the Nittany lions as they won the game by just four points. It gets much harder for them here as they are taking on a Michigan State team that beat them by 15 & 19 points in the two meetings this year. Back to the game vs the Lions where the Buckeyes shot just 43.6% from the field and they were just 5-14 from long range, but they did hold the Lions to 44.1`% shooting overall and outrebounded them by 5. Ohio State did struggle defending the three as PSU hit 40.9% of their shots from downtown. Leading the charge for OSU was Marc Loving, who had 24 points and was 3-5 from long range, plus 13-15 from the line. The rest of the team was just 13-24 from the stripe. JaQuan Lyle also had a big game with 22 points and 10 boards. The Buckeyes have just 6 players that average 6.8 ppg or more and are led by Marc Loving, who averages 13.8 ppg on the year. Keita Bates-Diop (12.0 ppg), Jae’Sean Tate (11.7 ppg) and JaQuan Lyle (10.8 ppg) round out the double digit scorers on the team. The Buckeyes have not been a good offensive team this year as they check in at 233rd in the nation in scoring, putting up just 70.9 ppg, while also ranking 160th in shooting overall, 185th from long range and 271st at the charity stripe. OSU does play some defense as they come in ranked 76th in points allowed, giving up just 67.6 ppg, while also ranking 38th in defensive FG% and 156th in 3-point defense.
The Kansas Jayhawks are playing the best ball in the nation right now, but the Michigan State Spartans are not far behind as they have won their last 6 games, outscoring their foes by 21.7 in the process. Let’s go back a little further and we see that they have won 10 of their last 11 games, with that lone loss coming by just 1 points in OT at Purdue. The Spartans last 9 wins have all come by double digits and 6 of those wins have been by 19 or more. Truly dominating. Now they take on an Ohio State team that they have beaten 4 straight times, with the two wins this year coming by 15 and 19 points. Many feel that Buddy Hield of Oklahoma is the best player in the nation, but there are some that feel that Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine is the best player in the nation. He leads the Spartans with 19.6 ppg and 7.4 rpg, while dishing out 202 assists as well. Very solid numbers all around, but Hield’s may be a bit better. Bryn Forbes is the one to watch out for right now as he has averaged 15.1 ppg overall, including 22.3 ppg in his last four games and he has hit 50.5% from downtown this year. Matt Costello (10.5 ppg) rounds out the double digit scorers on the team. The Spartans have been a very good offensive team this year as they check in at 22nd in the nation in scoring, putting up 80.7 ppg, while also ranking 13th in shooting overall, 1st from long range and 92nd at the charity stripe. The defensive numbers are strong as well as they come in ranked 19th in points allowed, giving up just 63.8 ppg, while also ranking 2nd in defensive FG% and 18th in 3-point defense.
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