The No. 7 ranked Maryland Terrapins invade Columbus winners of nine in a row that’s seen them catapult themselves into the catbird seat of the Big Ten standings. That’s a view Chris Holtmann’s No. 25 Ohio State Buckeyes once had not too long ago when they were the toast of the town after getting out to such a strong start to their 2019-20 campaign. But these teams now find themselves on two incredibly different paths with the Terps currently checking in as a No. 2 seed in Bracketology mocks and the Buckeyes locked into a No. 6 seed. That could all dramatically change later Sunday afternoon when the teams close out their regular season rivalry against one another with the Buckeyes out to prevent Maryland from sweeping the season series.
This Big Ten matchup is set to go down on Sunday, February 23, 2020. Tip-off will be at 4 p.m. ET from Value City Arena in Columbus, OH. The game will be broadcast live on CBS. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
Odds Analysis
Since dropping back-to-back matchups against Iowa and Wisconsin on the road, Maryland has rattled off four straight wins in the visitor’s role against Northwestern, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State. While the first two don’t mean much if anything, the latter two most definitely do; especially when you take into consideration that the Terps dominated the second half in Champagne to get the best of the Illini and then pulled a wire-to-wire win out in the visit to East Lansing. Maryland is currently playing with confidence and moxie it never exhibited last season, and their odds to win the national championship at online sportsbooks reflect as such with them shortening up every passing week.
The same can’t and won’t be said about the Ohio State Buckeyes. Seriously, what the heck went wrong with this team? It looked like gangbusters through the non-conference portion of the schedule in logging huge wins against teams like Cincinnati, Villanova, North Carolina, Penn State and Kentucky. Maybe those teams were all yet to hit their stride, but they dominated. Heck, they destroyed the Nittany Lions by 32 points in their B1G opener! Since that win over the Wildcats, OSU has done nothing but struggle in conference play in going 7-8 SU and 6-9 ATS. Kaleb Wesson and company have however been their best at home where they’ve won 13 of 15 games and enter this tilt SU and ATS winners of three straight.
Key Stat
The Terps defense was relentless when these squads squared off at the beginning of January in the XFINITY Center. Ohio State was limited to 31 percent shooting from the field and managed to convert on just 5 of 27 shots from long range. They also turned the ball over 14 times. "We won because our defense was outstanding," Turgeon said. "I'm encouraged because I don't think we're playing great yet. But we beat a really, really good team that I think can win a national championship if things go the right way for them in March."
Still, Maryland only went on to win the battle of the boards 32-31 and turned it over 16 times itself. Take note - the Buckeyes still competed mightily on the glass even though Kyle Young and his near 6.0 rebounds per game didn’t play due to sitting the game out to recover from having his appendix removed. He’ll be back in the mix this time around to make things a lot tougher on Jalen Smith who scored 11 points and ripped down 7 rebounds to help lead Maryland to the win and cover.
Prediction
As much as I want to throw the Buckeyes under the bus because they cost me a perfect sweep on Thursday night failing to compete against Iowa, I just can’t. Yes, Maryland is playing with its hair on fire right now, but this has “get well” game written all over it for Wesson and his mates. Ohio State has been its absolute best in the comforts of Value City Arena all season long, and you can bet your bottom dollar it will be rocking for this late afternoon tip on Sunday. Maryland has made the Buckeyes their bitch in taking seven of the last eight skirmishes both SU and ATS; three of those losses took place on their own hardwood! If the Buckeyes are worth their weight in salt, they show out big for this matchup. If not, you can take a Bic to any Ohio State futures tickets you may have in your possession right now!
College Basketball Pick: Ohio State 76, Maryland 65
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