Ohio State vs Akron College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/9/2021

The Akron Zips and the Ohio State Buckeyes square off in college basketball action from Value City Arena on Tuesday.

The Akron Zips will look to pick up where they left off in 2020-21, finishing 15-8 overall including 12-6 in MAC conference play, tied for 3^rd. The Zips upended Bowling Green in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament before falling to Buffalo in the semifinals, ending their season. The Zips start the year missing one of their best players as Loren Cristian Jackson is done with the team, so filling that void will be crucial. K.J. Walton transfers across the conference from Ball State after logging 16.4 PPG and 5.9 RPG for the Cardinals last season and Xavier Castaneda transfers in from USF after putting up 8.5 PPG and 2.6 APG last season. Bryan Trimble returns after logging 12 PPG last season while Enrique Freeman is the top returning big for Akron, logging 7.9 PPG and a team-high 9.2 RPG last season. The talent is there for the Zips to make another run at the top four and potentially the NCAA tournament with John Groce on the sidelines, but only time will tell if they can actually make that happen on the court.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will look to build on a solid 2020-21 regular season but move past their tournament appearance as the Buckeyes finished 21-10 overall including 12-8 in Big Ten conference play to finish in 5^th. The Buckeyes defeated Minnesota, Purdue and Michigan before falling to Illinois in overtime of the conference championship game. The Buckeyes were awarded a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament, but were upset by that year’s Cinderella, Oral Roberts, in the opening round. E.J. Liddell headlines a talented Ohio State roster after logging 16.2 PPG and 6.7 RPG last season. Justice Sueing is in line for a load increase after putting up 10.7 PPG and 5.5 RPG last season while Jamari Wheeler transfers in from Penn State after chipping in 6.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG and 3.5 APG last season. Joey Brunk adds some frontcourt depth transferring within the Big Ten from Indiana, but the best transfer of the bunch might be Cedric Russell who had 17.2 PPG for Louisiana last year and shot over 40% from three-point range, giving the Buckeyes some much needed scoring and shooting depth. The Pieces are all there for Ohio State to make another run at a top-3 NCAA tournament seed and hopefully have a longer stay at the big dance than last year.

Akron is 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games overall and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 Tuesday games. Ohio State is 0-5 ATS in their last 5 home games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games as a favorite while the under is 11-4 in their last 15 Thursday games.

I get the case that could be made for Akron and the points, but I just want to see what Akron does without Loren Cristian Jackson because he was such a big part of that offense. On top of that, You have to imagine that Ohio State is out to make a statement after having to listen to all the criticism of their loss in the NCAA tournament last season. Look for a statement win from Ohio State here, so I’ll lay the points.