Who’s Playing
Pittsburgh Panthers @ Ohio State Buckeyes
Current Records: Pittsburgh 6-1, Ohio State 5-1
How To Watch
What to Know
The Pittsburgh Panthers’ road trip will continue as they head out to face the Ohio State Buckeyes at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday at Value City Arena. Coming off a loss in a game the Panthers were expected to win, they now face the more daunting task of proving themselves against unfavorable odds.
Pittsburgh is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Wisconsin just ended the team’s six-game winning streak on Sunday. They took an 81-75 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Badgers. The Panthers got off to an early lead (up 14 with 7:28 left in the first quarter), but sadly they weren’t able to maintain that momentum.
Pittsburgh’s loss shouldn’t obscure the performances of Ishmael Leggett, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds, and Cameron Corhen, who went 7 for 8 en route to 16 points.
Meanwhile, Ohio State waltzed into their game on Monday with two straight wins… but they left with three. They claimed a resounding 102-69 win over the Phoenix. The Buckeyes have made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won four matchups by 33 points or more this season.
Ohio State can attribute much of their success to Bruce Thornton, who shot 5-for-7 from deep and almost dropped a double-double on 25 points and nine assists. The dominant performance also gave Thornton a new career-high in threes (five). Another player making a difference was John Mobley Jr., who went 5 for 8 en route to 14 points plus four steals.
Ohio State was working as a unit and finished the game with 20 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Green Bay only posted 11.
Having lost for the first time this season, Pittsburgh fell to 6-1. As for Ohio State, their victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 5-1.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Pittsburgh hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 84.3 points per game. However, it’s not like Ohio State struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 85.2. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
While only Pittsburgh took care of their fans the last time they played, neither team managed to cover. As for their next game, Ohio State is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by 3.5 points. This will be Pittsburgh’s first time playing as the underdogs on the road this season.
Odds
Ohio State is a 3.5-point favorite against Pittsburgh, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 3.5-point spread, and stayed right there.
The over/under is 147 points.
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