The Penn State Nittany Lions need a spark in the worst of ways. Pat Chambers’ kids have had an extremely rough go of it lately in dropping three straight after falling in Minnesota on Wednesday night 75-69 to the Golden Gophers. Luckily for them, they get to return to the comforts of their own gym for Saturday’s revenge bout with the Ohio State Buckeyes who trashed them in Columbus to tip off Big Ten play back in early December. Since sweeping the Buckeyes in all three skirmishes back in 2018, the Nittany Lions have failed to come out victorious in each of the last two skirmishes. After getting bounced from the game early in the second half of the first meeting, you can expect Lamar Stevens to be out for blood in the second go round in hopes of getting his squad back on track.
This B1G tilt is set to go down on Saturday, January 18, 2020. Tip-off will be at 12 p.m. ET from the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
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Odds Analysis
Ohio State finally put an end to an ugly four-game losing streak earlier in the week when they toppled the Nebraska Cornhuskers back home by an 80-68 final count. Even so, they came nowhere close to covering the closing college basketball odds. But should they have even gone off the board as 18-point favorites at online sportsbooks in the first place? Regardless, OSU invades Happy Valley having failed to cover each of its last five games since taking care of business against Kentucky in Sin City. It’s also yet to win or cover its three played road games in conference play losing to Minnesota, Maryland and Indiana by an average of 11 points per game. If they’re to pop their cherry on the B1G road, Kaleb Wesson and Kyle Young must own the glass much like they did in the first confrontation which helped allow them to win it by 32 points.
Now the No. 36 ranked team per the current Pomeroy Ratings, it’s high time the Nittany Lions start playing like the team that won 12 of 14 games and scored solid wins over Iowa, Alabama, Maryland, Syracuse and Georgetown. The current three-game losing streak has been rough to watch. It started with a 72-61 loss at Rutgers in the first game the Scarlet Knights were forced to play without Geo Baker. It was followed up with a horrible loss at home against Wisconsin in a game the Badgers dominated both physically and statistically. The most recent stumble against the Golden Gophers was brutal as well. After denting the scoreboard for 46 first half points, PSU mustered 23 in the final 20 minutes and simply got destroyed on the glass. As hosts, Penn State checks in 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS with the lone defeat coming last time out against Wisconsin.
Key Players
While CJ Walker was able to step up and fill the void left by Duane Washington Jr. who was suspended for Tuesday night’s game against Nebraska, the Nittany Lions are a much different animal than that of the Cornhuskers. The sophomore’s 22.4 minutes, 10.7 points per game and solid shooting from beyond the arc would be sorely missed should Chris Holtmann decide to keep him suspended for this matchup. In the first meeting with Penn State, he drained 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points. Also suspended was Luther Muhammad. If both are unable to go, the Buckeyes will once again be without two of their sharpshooters in hostile territory. “It’s letting guys know what’s tolerable and what’s not,” he said. “This is just a learning step. We went through the same thing last year. You learn from it, you move on.” Keep an eye on the injury reports to see if each is a go for Saturday’s game.
Prediction
As hard it’s been to win on the road in the Big Ten, I’m just not a believer in what Penn State is trying to sell this season. I also don’t think Chambers is a very good coach. This year’s squad is nothing short of mediocre across the board. It does absolutely nothing extraordinarily well that jumps off the stat sheet, and owns one of the worst 3-point defenses in the conference. OSU just so happens to be one of the better long range shooting teams in the B1G, and it already knocked 14 of 26 attempts down against the Nittany Lions once this season. We already saw what an Ohio State squad in good form could do to the Nittany Lions once this season. Should linemakers decide to offer them any kind of points in the rematch, I’d take them even though the home team will be going all-out out to score same season revenge.
College Basketball Pick: Ohio State 75, Penn State 70
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