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There is already plenty of bad blood between the Clemson Tigers and the Ohio State Buckeyes, it’s just that this time we will have it play out on the basketball court. Two of the biggest football programs in the land have decent basketball teams this year as well, but the programs are in completely different places. Ohio State is moving on from the Thad Matta era, while Clemson is almost ready to replace Brad Brownell barring a great campaign this year. It will be interesting to see how this one shakes out.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at 7:15 p.m. ET at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Wednesday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
The Buckeyes are sitting at 5-2, but are just 2-3 ATS. Ohio State started the season with four straight wins, but then traveled west for the Phil Knight Invitational and didn’t perform so well. This team was pummeled by Gonzaga in the opener, then rebounded and knocked off Stanford before losing to Butler by one-point in overtime. The loss to the Bulldogs was especially tough as new coach Chris Holtmann coached at Butler for four seasons prior to being hired at Ohio State. Every one of Ohio State’s games has gone under the total this season.
Clemson fared much better, albeit against worse competition, at the Charleston Classic last week. The Tigers made it all the way to the championship game after knocking off both Ohio and Hofstra, but then lost to Temple despite being a short favorite. It’s still not a bad start to the season for Clemson, who sits at 5-1 SU and 2-2 ATS on the year.
Coaching Angle
Many people were surprised when Brad Brownell remained with the Tigers after failing to make the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season. This will be Brownell’s eighth season on campus and he has hovered around .500 in all but two of his previous years. It is hard to compete in the mighty ACC, but other schools that place a stronger emphasis on football have been competitive in this conference.
It’s very much a make or break year for Brownell who will probably be let go if he doesn’t win 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament. Every game is crucial in that regard and he can’t drop winnable games outside of conference play.
Conversely, the Buckeyes know they have to be patient with Holtmann. He was seen as an up and coming star at Butler and needs time to rebuild in Columbus after Matta was run out of town following last year’s disappointing finish.
Player to Watch
Jae’Sean Tate is in his fourth season as a starter with the Buckeyes and is off to his best start yet. Tate looked very good against the creampuffs on Ohio State’s early season schedule and acquitted himself well out at the PK80.
On the season he is hitting 57.1 percent of his field goals and is averaging 7.3 rebounds per game too. He still struggles from distance, but is not shooting ill-advised threes like he was last season and has gotten better from the line. Tate will be one of the keys for Ohio State.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
These two schools haven’t met on the basketball court since all the way back in 2004.
Clemson desperately needs this game. Its schedule is about to get very tough with games against Florida and South Carolina coming up before ACC play and a big win over a name opponent would go a long way. I think Ohio State will be the better team by the end of the year, but the Tigers do have more experience at this point and they will get a nice road win.
College Basketball Odds: Clemson 78, Ohio State 74
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