Two teams without any hopes of attaining the Big Ten regular season title will duke it out for nothing more than B1G tourney seeding when the Michigan State Spartans and Ohio State Buckeyes cross paths for the one and only time pre-tourney. Heading into the 2021-22 CBB betting season, both Sparty and OSU were expected to play major roles in deciding the conference victor at online sportsbooks. But with Tom Izzo’s kids clocking in with a 10-7 record and Chris Holtmann’s troops 11-6, both squads failed to live up to expectations. Even so, there’s still plenty of talent littered throughout both rosters that could use a big win like this to ignite a potential run through the upcoming Big Ten tournament. The Spartans could invade C-Bus winners of two straight dependent upon what goes down in Ann Arbor Tuesday night, while the Buckeyes are to likely be gunning for a second straight win after matching wits with Nebraska. Look for E.J. Liddell and his mates to be laying in the neighborhood of five points with the total in the 140s.
Take this Big Ten battle in live on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET from the Value City Arena on Thursday, March 3, 2022. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for this and every game lined up on tonight’s college basketball schedule.
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Odds Analysis
Winners only once in its previous six games, MSU’s last second 68-65 outright win at home over the weekend against the Purdue Boilermakers couldn’t have come at a better time. It halted their three-game SU and ATS losing streak and put them in a position to compete for a top-four seed in the tourney that would immediately propel them into the quarterfinals. In order to see it all the way through, their 5-4 SU and ATS road marks must be improved. Sparty’s dropped three straight away from East Lansing and failed to cover each of the last four. Though just 2-2 SU and ATS in its last four, the Buckeyes currently own the No. 4 seed and get the benefit of playing their final three regular season games in the comforts of VCA where they’re 12-1 SU and 8-5 ATS to date with the lone defeat coming against Iowa back on February 19. OSU stands 4-1 versus the college basketball betting lines the last five times it laid chalk as hosts.
Michigan State Spartans
After falling to Penn State, Illinois and Iowa, the Spartans took to their home hardwood on Saturday determined to get off the schneid against the Boilermakers. Sparty let favored Purdue know it was in for a battle right from the get go and went on to take a 35-33 lead at the break. Though it would go on to relinquish the lead in spots throughout the second half, Tyson Walker’s game-winning 3-pointer with only 1.4 ticks remaining allowed for the Fightin’ Izzos to log a huge outright win. MSU would shoot 47 percent from the field which included a 9-of-20 showing from long range, but was also aided by Purdue turning the ball over a whopping 16 times while only connecting on 1-of-9 shots from downtown. Purdue played arguably its worst game of the season yet Michigan State still only managed to win the game at the gun.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Sunday’s road tilt at Maryland marked the Buckeyes fourth game played over a nine day stretch; it showed. Ohio State was never able to match the Terps intensity from the word go, and went on to drop an embarrassing 75-60 decision as 3.5-point road favorites. Though the offense produced four double-digit scorers, neither E.J. Liddell (11) or Malaki Branham (13) were their ordinary selves with the duo combining to shoot a pedestrian 7-of-23 from the field. The former missed all five of his 3-point attempts, while the latter went 1-for-6. The Buckeyes were playing with tired legs evidenced by the trio of Fats Russell, Eric Ayala, and Donta Scott attacking the paint with repeated success when it was still competitive in the late stages of the game. More fatigue must be taken into account for this one as well with the game representing the teams third over a five-day stretch.
Betting Prediction
I got this circled as a play-on spot with the Buckeyes who will be looking to put their best foot forward against an upper tiered B1G opponent after going through the motions against Big Red. It also might be tough for MSU to get up for this one coming off an emotional battle with the maize and blue. It’ll also be Sparty’s second straight road clash. Without a prior matchup to breakdown, a quick glance at the analytics lets it be known these teams are on par with one another in a number of different respects. However, one glaring advantage OSU holds over MSU is in the turnover department. Neither defense forces turnovers, but Ohio State does a solid job holding onto the basketball (No. 68) while the same can’t be said for Michigan State (No. 271). OSU should also have an easier go of it getting theirs close to the rim, while MSU is likely to struggle. If the Spartans are hot from deep, they can win this game. If not, the Buckeyes will likely log the win and cover. Ultimately, this matchup looks to be a perfect opportunity to live bet as opposed to getting in pre-game. If it’s close and the long range shots aren’t falling for the visitors, I’d look to lay the readjusted in-game number with the hosts.
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