Michigan vs Ohio State Prediction 3/13/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines meet Friday in Big Ten Tournament college basketball action from the United Center in Chicago. Here’s a Michigan vs. Ohio State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Michigan vs. Ohio State pick.

Ohio State Buckeyes Betting Preview

The Buckeyes managed to win 13 of their first 18 games to open the season. Ohio State could only go 4-6 over the next 10 games, however. Those defeats were against Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan again, Virginia, Michigan State and Iowa. Since then it’s been wins over Purdue, Penn State, Indiana and Iowa. Through 32 games, that gives the Buckeyes a 21-11 overall run so far.

In the tournament matchup versus Iowa on Thursday, the Buckeyes retired to the locker room at the half with a 34-30 edge. Ohio State hit a 39-38 deficit the rest of the way but held on for the win in the end, 72-69, to keep moving in the tourney. Tops in scoring was Bruce Thornton with his 24 points, six rebounds and three assists. Christoph Tilly added 16 points as well.

Michigan Wolverines Betting Preview

Over on the Michigan side, they took wins in all of their first 14 games before a loss to Wisconsin on January 10. Following that were wins over Washington, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio State, Nebraska and Michigan State in the next half-dozen, then wins over Penn State, Ohio State, Northwestern, UCLA and Purdue. After another loss to Duke came wins over Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan State, making a 29-2 run this year.

Back on Sunday versus Michigan State, the Wolverines came out of the first half sporting a slim 42-41 edge. Michigan got better from there on a 48-39 run and eventually powered out the rivalry win on their home court 90-80 in the end. Leading scorer Yaxel Lendeborg put up 27 points with three rebounds and three assists in the victory, while Morez Johnson added 18 points and seven rebounds.

Michigan vs Ohio State Prediction

I’ll just stay with Michigan. The Wolverines started a bit slowly against a great Michigan State team in their latest win but eventually shot very well, with 49.1 percent from the field, 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from outside and 89.7 percent (26-of-29) from the line. Michigan did get outmuscled in the paint 40-30 however, and had 10 turnovers along the way. Still, the Wolverines have won four straight games and 15 of their last 16 overall.

These teams met twice this year, with Michigan taking both: 74-62 at home on January 23 and 82-61 on the road on February 8. In that road win, the Wolverines shot 45.8 percent from the field while holding Ohio State to just 36.4 percent on the other side. Michigan added a 42-26 rebounding advantage, 20 team assists and a 42-20 edge on points in the paint. The Wolverines have a good shot at a repeat performance in this tournament rematch.