#15 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State College Basketball Picks

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Good college basketball matchup from the Big Ten on Wednesday night as No. 15 Wisconsin visits unranked but 12-3 Ohio State, which already has one upset of a ranked school this season. The Buckeyes are very short favorites on the NCAAB odds. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis #15 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 10 NCAAB

How to Bet Wisconsin at Ohio State NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Wednesday, 8:30 PM ET
Where: Value City Arena
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: BTN Live
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: OSU -1 (total 140.5)

Series History

It will be the 173rd all-time meeting and the Buckeyes officially lead the series 91-75 and 55-26 in Columbus. The recent series has been close. The teams have split the last 10 meetings 5-5 and over the last six meetings, the teams are tied 3-3 and each have scored exactly 419 points. Last year, they split. Wisconsin survived a furious Ohio State comeback in a 65-60 victory in Columbus during the regular season. Then in the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes got the last laugh with a 65-57 victory, limiting Wisconsin to just 34 percent shooting.

Why Bet on Wisconsin Badgers?

The Badgers (11-3) won their fourth straight game Saturday, 88-72 over visiting Nebraska. The Huskers shot nearly 50 percent from the field, including 12-of-26 from 3-point range, but the Badgers, who have won 10 of their last 11, shot 55 percent from the field, including nearly 60 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. In the first half, Nebraska shot 53 percent from the field, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range, but Wisconsin shot nearly 60 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes in taking a 51-38 halftime lead.

Wisconsin Last 5

vs Nebraska – W88-72

vs Iowa – W83-72

vs Chicago State – W80-53

vs Jacksonville State – W75-60

@ Arizona – L98-73

Tyler Wahl scored 17 points to lead Wisconsin and snap the Cornhuskers’ five-game winning streak. UW went 13 of 26 from beyond the arc to post its highest 3-point basket total of the season. The performance marked the first time Wisconsin shot over 54% in a Big Ten game since posting a 29-for-48 clip (60.4%) in a win over Indiana on Feb. 3, 2015.

Wisconsin also had a 36-18 edge in bench scoring as Connor Essegian helped lead the bench production by scoring 12 points and shooting 4 of 7 from 3-point range. After scoring 11.7 points per game as a freshman last season to rank third on the team, Essegian struggled with a back injury early this season and eventually fell from the rotation but looked back in form.

“We get that second group in, we get the third group in and you don’t really see a dip in the numbers, or if there is, it’s not too much,” Wahl said.

UW has scored 80+ points for the 3rd straight game and the 4th time this season. The last time UW scored 80+ in 3 straight was a stretch of 4 consecutive from Dec. 13-Dec. 30, 2017. Wisconsin has scored 80+ in back-to-back Big Ten games for the first time since the 2014-15 season when UW scored 80+ vs. Penn State and Northwestern in consecutive wins.

Wisconsin has scored 70+ points in 8 consecutive games, the team’s longest such streak since a 9-game stretch of 70+ games in the 2021-22 season. The Badgers are averaging 75.8 ppg on the season, which would be the team’s highest scoring mark since averaging 77.9 ppg in the 1993-94 season. Transfer guard AJ Storr leads the Badgers scoring 14.7 ppg. He’s scored double figures in 12 of 14 games.

The Badgers have just 2 players averaging more than 27.0 minutes per game (Chucky Hepburn, 30.3 and Steven Crowl (28.6). Last year, all 5 starters were over 27.0 mpg, including 4 over 30. Last season, Wisconsin owned a -3.4 overall margin on the glass. Through 14 games this year, Wisconsin is +5.8 on the glass. The Badgers are averaging 20.9 free throw attempts per game, an increase of 6.6 more per game than a year ago (14.3 FTAs per game in 2022-23).  Wisconsin leads the Big Ten in free throw percentage (221-for-292, 75.7%).

Over the last three seasons, UW is 16-10 in true road games, joining UCLA (18), Miami (17) and Arizona (17) as the only major conference teams with at least 16 road wins since 2021-22. Since Greg Gard took over on Dec. 23, 2015, UW has recorded 48 true road wins, the 6th-most among all major conference teams.

Wahl is set to make his 100th career start at Ohio State. He is averaging a career-high 11.9 ppg and shooting a career-best 54.5% from the field.

Bet Wisconsin to Win
MyBookie Betting Lines for NCAAB

Why Bet on Ohio State Buckeyes?

Ohio State (12-3) had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 71-65 loss at Indiana on Saturday. IU had a 22-5 edge on points off turnovers and a 40-24 points-in-the-paint advantage. That offset Ohio State’s 49-27 rebounding advantage, which produced a 24-9 edge in second-chance points. Indiana held OSU to 25-of-69 (36.2%) from the field and 7-of-27 (25.9%) from behind the arc.

Ohio State Last 5

@ Indiana – L71-65

vs Rutgers – W76-72

vs West Virginia – W78-75

vs New Orleans – W78-36

vs UCLA – W67-60

Jamison Battle led the Buckeyes with 17 points on 5-of-10 from long range. It was his fourth consecutive game with five or more three-pointers made. The last Buckeye to make five or more three-pointers in four consecutive games was Jon Diebler from Nov. 24 to Dec. 5, 2009. Battle is leading the Big Ten in three-pointers made with 47 and in three-point percentage at 45.2. He has also made five or more three-pointers in each of the last four games. He is trying to become the first player in program history with five or more threes in five consecutive games.

Felix Okpara pulled-down a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with six points. The last Buckeye with 15 rebounds in a game was E.J. Liddell when he had 15 in a win at Minnesota on Jan. 27, 2022. Okpara also tied his career-high with five blocks and extended his consecutive games with a block to 21. Zed Key added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with five rebounds. Freshman Scotty Middleton came off the bench and was 4-of-4 shooting to finish with nine points.

The Buckeyes pulled-down 22 offensive rebounds as part of their season-high tying 49 rebounds. The last time Ohio State had 22 offensive rebounds in a game was Nov. 25, 2016, when it had 27 against Marshall. The last time it happened against a Big Ten team was on March 5, 2003, when the Buckeyes had 22 against Northwestern.

Bruce Thornton continues to remain one of the most efficient point guards in the conference. He has 65 assists and just 14 turnovers this season for an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.64. That ratio is fourth-best in the country. He is also leading the team in scoring at 16.9 ppg. Thornton is the first Buckeye to start each of the first 50 games of his career without missing a game since Michael Redd started all 96 games in his three-year career from 1998-2000.

Head coach Chris Holtmann is one win away from 250 in his career. He has 135 wins at Ohio State, which is the fifth-most by a Buckeye head coach.

Bet Ohio State to Win
MyBookie Betting Lines for NCAAB