Maine Black Bears vs. Ohio State Buckeyes December 21 Betting Preview

The Ohio State Buckeyes will travel back home to Columbus as -24 point favorites after falling to North Carolina on Saturday by a score of 89-84. 

They will face the Maine Black Bears who are 6-4 on the season thus far. Ohio State is 7-3 overall but a perfect 5-0 at home. The Buckeyes look to get back to their winning ways in their Wednesday night matchup against Maine.

Ohio State had four players score in double figures in their disappointing loss to the Tar Heels which was led by Brice Sensabaugh’s 22 points and eight rebounds. Justin Sueing was the only Buckeye to out-rebound Sensabaugh with nine rebounds. 

The Buckeyes were not able to stop the trio of RJ Davis, Caleb Love and Armando Bacot who all scored 20-plus points in the matchup.

Maine is coming off two crucial wins against Augusta and Merrimack. 

In the game against Merrimack, Kellen Tynes led all scorers with twelve points. Gedi Juozapaitis and Peter Filopovity also scored in double digits in the contest.

Let’s look ahead at this matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Maine Black Bears on Wednesday.

Expected Odds

The Buckeyes will look to extend their home win streak this season as huge favorites, and will have the upperhand with higher level talent than Maine. The Black Bears will need everything to go well for them to pull off the upset in this contest.

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Keys To The Game

The Buckeyes are used to scoring at will and that is explained by their average points per game being 79.5 which ranks 32nd in the country. 

Their ability to rebound the basketball, especially on the offensive end, gives them more opportunities to score with more possessions. They average just under twelve offensive rebounds per game which ranks 16th in the country.

Brice Sensabaugh leads all Ohio State scorers with 14.9 points per game. Zed Key averages just under Sensabaugh with 14 points per game but also adds just over eight rebounds per game. At 6’8” and 255 points, he is one of the main reasons that the Buckeyes get so many offensive rebounds.

The Black Bears will need to make this a low scoring affair if they want to have any chance of winning this game. 

They average about 67 points per game which ranks 260th in the nation. On the other hand, they defend teams well which translates to only allowing 65.3 points per game which makes them the 73rd best defense in the country.

Maine has three players that average more than ten points per game. Sophomore Kellen Tynes leads all scorers with 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. His tenacity on the defensive end has enabled his ability to get steals as he averages an impressive 3.4 steals per game.