The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Santa Clara Broncos meet in college basketball action from the Raider Arena on Saturday. Can Ohio State hand Santa Clara their first loss of the season? Or will the Broncos remain undefeated when these two square off as part of the Emerald Coast Classic? Let’s dive in and find out. Here is our Ohio State vs Santa Clara Prediction.

Ohio State Blows By Alabama

The Ohio State Buckeyes will look to build on their 92-81 win over Alabama last time out for their 3rd straight W to improve to 4-1 on the year. Bruce Thornton leads the Buckeyes in scoring and assists with 18 PPG and 4.4 APG while Roddy Gayle Jr. has 16.4 PPG and 6.2 RPG as well on the year. Zed Key has 11.6 PPG with a team-high 6.4 RPG to lead the Buckeyes on the glass while Jamison Battle has 10.8 PPG with 4.4 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Ohio State so far this season. As a team, Ohio State is averaging 77.2 PPG on 46.3% shooting from the field, 38.6% from three and 74.8% from the foul line this season.

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Santa Clara Remains Unbeaten

The Santa Clara Broncos will try to add to their 6-0 start to the year after an 88-82 win over Oregon last time out. Carlos Marshall Jr. leads the Broncos in scoring and rebounding with 16.7 PPG and 6.7 RPG while Adama Bal has 14.2 PPG with 4 RPG and 2.7 APG. Christoph Tilly has 11 PPG with 5.2 RPG and 2.5 APG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Santa Clara so far this season while Francisco Caffaro has a team-high 3 APG to lead the Broncos in the assist department this season. As a team, Santa Clara is averaging 80.3 PPG on 49.3% shooting from the field, 32.9% from three and 65.4% from the foul line this season.

Chris’ Pick

I’m going to stick with Santa Clara here. The Broncos have looked really good so far, and just from watching this Ohio State team in the past, shooting performances like the one we saw against Alabama aren’t sustainable from game to game. The Broncos are sneaky good this season and could end up being a perennial tournament team out of the WCC if Gonzaga ends up bolting for the Big 12 at some point. Give me the Broncos here.