The Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes meet Thursday in Big Ten Tournament college basketball action from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Penn State is 13-16 this year. The Nittany Lions beat Minnesota in tournament activity Wednesday. As for Ohio State, they’re sitting at 19-10 and coming off a loss to Michigan. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Penn State was sitting at 8-6 back in mid-January, but the conference games took a toll on their record for the rest of the regular season. The Nittany Lions finished off with a string of losses to Nebraska, Illinois and Rutgers.
In Wednesday’s tournament matchup versus Minnesota, the Nittany Lions faced a 24-28 deficit going into halftime. Penn State surged on a 36-23 run from there in a 60-51 win. Jalen Pickett led the team on 22 points with seven rebounds in the victory.
Over on the Ohio State side, they maintained a pretty solid run through their first 25 games, going 18-7 overall without consecutive losses. The Buckeyes are just 1-3 in their last four though, falling to Maryland, Nebraska and Michigan.
On Sunday versus Michigan, the Buckeyes were up 37-30 at halftime. Ohio State fell behind on a 32-45 second-half run and lost the game 75-69. Leading Buckeyes scorer Malaki Branham posted 18 options with two rebounds and 5-of-7 from the line.
PICK: I’m going to try Penn State here. The Nittany Lions shot 44 percent from the field with 37 rebounds in their victory on Wednesday. It was a solid all-around effort after halftime. The last time they met up with Ohio State back on January 16, Penn State hung in there during a 61-56 road loss. The Nittany Lions should be close in this one as well.
As for Ohio State, they’ve looked uncharacteristically shaky lately. The Buckeyes have been below 70 points in three of the last seven games, and each of the last four losses has come by at least six points. This will be a fun matchup to watch, but I’m not sure Ohio State can keep the pace going the whole way.