The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Ohio State Buckeyes meet Thursday in college basketball action from Value City Arena. Iowa is currently 14-7 this year. The Hawkeyes lost to Penn State in double overtime during their last outing. As for Ohio State, they’re currently 13-5 and coming off a loss to Purdue. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Iowa put up a 13-4 run to start the year, tallying losses to Purdue, Illinois, Iowa State and Wisconsin along the way. Since then it’s been a 1-3 run for the Hawkeyes. They’ve fallen to Rutgers, Purdue and Penn State during that time.
Matched up against Penn State on Monday, the Hawkeyes traded punches with the Nittany Lions the whole way. After two overtime periods, Iowa ended up with a tough 90-86 loss. Keegan Murray was the leading scorer on 21 points with six boards.
Over on the Ohio State side, their year began with a 10-4 run. The losses came to Xavier, Florida, Indiana and Wisconsin. After wins over Penn State, IUPUI and Minnesota, the Buckeyes lost their last game to Purdue.
In the Purdue game, the Buckeyes were outscored 39-30 in the first half. Ohio State hit a 48-42 run in the second but couldn’t catch up in an 81-78 loss. EJ Liddell and Malaki Branham each scored 20 points with a combined 10 rebounds.
The Buckeyes are 5-2 ATS in their last seven at home and 1-5 ATS in their last six Thursday games. The over is 12-5 in Ohio State’s last 17 overall.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games and 1-4 ATS in their last five Thursday games. The over is 19-7-1 in Iowa’s last 27 overall.
PICK: I’m going to stay on Ohio State here. The Buckeyes took a tough loss to a great Purdue team in their last outing but still did well statistically. Ohio State hit 46 percent of their shots along with 32 rebounds, 15 assists and just six turnovers. The Buckeyes have hit 75 or more points in each of their last three games—though the double-overtime in their last matchup certainly helped.
As for Iowa, they’re scoring pretty well lately themselves (68 or more in each of the last three). I like this one to be a high-scoring, competitive affair most of the way, with Ohio State eventually powering out a cover. Should be a fun one to watch.