Ohio State vs. Indiana Men's Big Ten Basketball Betting Preview

The Buckeyes will continue their homestand as they will host the Indiana Hoosiers on Monday at 7 p.m. The Buckeyes are currently ranked No. 18 in the nation and fourth in the Big Ten, while Indiana is unranked and sits five spots below them in ninth in the conference.

Ohio State is 9-4 in conference play and 16-6 overall. They are undefeated in every game they have played at home this season. Indiana is 7-8 in the Big Ten and 16-9 overall. Indiana is on a four-game losing streak and is only 2-6 on the road this season.

Let’s look ahead at this Big Ten Showdown on Monday night.

Expected Odds

I expect that the Buckeyes will have a pretty substantial spread against the Hoosiers in this one. Although they struggle with their lack of size, they have succeeded in using their efficient offense to make their lack in possessions count. The Hoosiers are on a different path and have been on a bad streak as of late.

Ohio State should have a 7-9 point advantage at home vs. Indiana. The Buckeyes and the Hoosiers score 74.5 and 71.4 points per game while giving up 66.3 and 64.2 points, respectively. The over/under for the game should be about 140 points since both defenses are pretty strong and limit opponents in their scoring.

Quality Wins

Ohio State’s best win of the season came at the end of November at home against then No. 9 Duke by a score of 71-66. They have also beaten Wisconsin by 18 points in December, but then later fell to them on the road last month by a score of 78-68. The Buckeyes still have many opportunities outside of the conference tournament to improve their overall ranking including games against Illinois on February 24 and Michigan State on March 3rd.

For Indiana, their best win of the year came against their biggest rival, the Purdue Boilermakers, where they knocked off the No. 5 team in the country by a score of 68-65. They also beat Notre Dame in a low-scoring affair on December 18th. Their issue this season has not been their lack of quality wins but the number of bad losses.

The Hoosiers still have some games left to show their worth and make it into the NCAA tournament including the game next week against the Buckeyes. Other notable games include their last two games of the season at home against Rutgers on March 2nd and away at Purdue to close off the season on March 5th.

Expected Outcome

This will not be the game that Indiana gets back on track which will hurt their NCAA tournament chances and will put more pressure on them to perform at the end of the season and in the conference tournament. The Buckeyes have their eyes set on March and will take care of business to keep their perfect home streak alive.

I expect the Buckeyes to not only win but to cover the expected 7-9 point spread. EJ Liddell is looking to make this a special season for his last year at Ohio State and won’t let the Hoosiers spoil the fun for him and his team.

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