College Basketball Betting: Purdue Boilermakers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
 Purdue Boilermakers (21-3, 11-12-1 ATS) |
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 Ohio State Buckeyes (20-6, 13-13 ATS) |
Could a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament really be on the line on Wednesday night in Columbus? Both the Purdue Boilermakers and Ohio State Buckeyes certainly hope so. Recent losses by Georgetown, Villanova, and Syracuse have really opened up the conversations for the best team in the Big Ten to slip onto the #1 line, and the winner of this Hump Day duel could have an inside track. Both of these teams are scorching right now as well. Since that three-game slide in the middle of January, the Boilers are a rock solid 7-0 SU and 4-3 ATS. The Buckeyes are even hotter, going 9-1 SU and 6-4 against the college basketball betting lines in their L/10.
You know that you’re in great shape if you’re Purdue HC Matt Painter when you can say that a combined effort of 41 points, six assists, and 18 rebounds from your biggest three players is considered an off night. That was the case for G E’Twaun Moore, F Robbie Hummel, and F JaJuan Johnson on Saturday in a 63-40 romp of Iowa. All three are averaging over 15 points per game in this, their third season in West Lafayette together, and it doesn’t seem to matter where these guys are playing. They always seem to come up big. There arguably isn’t a better threesome in college basketball today, which is why the Boilers have moved all the way up to the #4 team in the country.
Those three may be dominant forces as a unit, but can any of the three of them stop F Evan Turner? Ohio State’s superstar is averaging 20.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game during this great ten game run for HC Thad Motta’s team. He was particularly strong against Purdue last month, scoring 32 points and bringing in nine boards in a truly dominant effort. The Buckeyes shot 51% from the floor against Purdue in the first clash of these titans, and if they can stay anywhere near their 49.9% shooting as a team on the season in this one, they’ll probably be headed to yet another ‘W’.
Both of these teams have intriguing cases in this game. Last week, Purdue marched into Michigan State and took out the Spartans with ease. Ohio State already knows that it has beaten the Boilers once this year. It’s hard to go against either squad right now, but the team that has faced the better competition has been Purdue. Look for the Boilermakers to keep it very tight with Ohio State the entire way, and though the Bucks may ultimately prove to be victorious SU, a game decided by a bucket one way or the other seems to be in the cards.
Selection: Purdue Boilermakers
The Boilermakers have gone 2-1 ATS on the road against probable NCAA Tournament teams this season and will look to make that 3-1 on Wednesday night. They’re lined at +3 on the NCAA basketball betting line right now at Bookmaker Sportsbook!
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