The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Iowa Hawkeyes meet Thursday in college basketball action from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Ohio State is 11-14 so far this season. The Buckeyes lost to Michigan State in their last outing. As for Iowa, they’re 16-9 on the year after a win versus Minnesota on Sunday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State posted a sketchy 10-8 run over their first 18 games of the year. The Buckeyes would then beat Iowa before falling to Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan State in the next six.
On Sunday versus Michigan State, the Buckeyes were outscored 27-14 in the first half. Ohio State didn’t get any closer on a 35-27 second-half deficit and lost 62-41. Sen McNeil was the only double-digit scorer with 10 points.
Iowa Hawkeyes
Over on the Iowa side, they hit a 12-6 stretch in their first 18 games this season. The Hawkeyes are 4-3 in their last seven with wins over Rutgers, Northwestern, Illinois and Minnesota. The losses came to Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue.
Matched up against Minnesota on Sunday, the Hawkeyes went into the break with a 32-29 edge. Iowa kept it up with a 36-27 second-half run and won it 68-56. Kris Murray was tops with a double-double on 28 points and 14 rebounds in the victory.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll stick with Iowa in this one. The Hawkeyes are 4-1 in their last five games, scoring 68 or more points in each of those outings. Iowa bounced back from last week’s loss to a great Purdue team with a nice road performance versus Minnesota on Sunday. There’s a revenge factor in play here as well: the last time these teams met up back on January 21 at Value City Arena, Ohio State powered out a 93-77 win. The Buckeyes have struggled with six straight losses since then, so I like the Hawkeyes to power out the cover in this rematch.