If the oddsmakers are going to catch up to the Wisconsin Badgers, it feels like now would be the time for them to do so. After four straight wins and covers, Wisconsin is going to be asked to lay quite a few points against a relatively comparable Ohio State Buckeyes unit on Thursday, and live bettors might really find some opportunities to succeed.
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SCHEDULING
All eyes are going to be on the Badgers in this one. They've done so well of late, but they've really been eking by with some close wins. Our hat goes off to the job Greg Gard has done with this team taking over for Bo Ryan, but live bettors have to remember that Wisconsin was just a 9-9 team a couple weeks ago and probably isn't much more than a .500 team when the season is said and done with, especially if a game like this is lost.
Ohio State should be remembered for playing pretty good ball at the moment as well. The Buckeyes have covered three of their last four, and they were hooked at the end by Maryland in a game which could've been won on Sunday.
KEY MATCHUP
For our money, the key for live bettors is going to be who gets more out of the bench. Ohio State has a regular it relies upon in JaQuan Lyle. Kam Williams and Trevor Thompson have both had some good contributions, but for the most part, this team is all about its starting five and Lyle.
Wisconsin meanwhile, has no choice but to try to find some scoring elsewhere from the starters on the court. Nigel Hayes, Ethan Happ and Bronson Koenig are going to be the leaders of the pack, but all of them can't play 35 minutes, and even if they did, there are still going to be some lulls for sure.
Live bettors have come to depend upon men like Vitto Brown and Khalil Iverson making big plays. Those two combined for 19 points on Sunday at Illinois on a day where most of the rest of the offense really struggled badly. However, Brown is the only regular scorer of the bunch, and Iverson was a shocking contributor after going three straight games without a single point. It's tough to rely upon this unit from here.
KEY STATS & TRENDS
It's tough to quantify what Wisconsin is doing right now. There's such a thing as clutch, and we firmly believe that it exists at the college level, especially in home games. Still, live bettors who are intending on making money throughout this game need to remember that the Badgers still shoot just 42.8 percent from the field and really have no outside presence whatsoever.
The Buckeyes, for all of their warts offensively, have done a nice job consistently shutting down opposing offenses. They've had a few bad NCAAB games here and there, but three straight foes have been kept in the 60s or lower, and this one really shouldn't be a heck of a lot different. Clubs are shooting just 39 percent against Ohio State this year, and it's tough to see how the Badgers are going to do much better than that on Thursday night.
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Wisconsin Badgers will go down Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. ET at the Kohl Center. The matchup will be televised live on ESPN.
