Preview: Illinois @ Ohio St
Republished with permission of Mike Wynn Sports of FreePlays.com
A big game for both these schools Saturday night as Ohio St hosts the Fighting Illini of Illinois. Ohio St after two straight losses is suddenly a bubble team with a 17-7 record and a 7-6 record in the relatively weak Big10 conference. Illinois is ranked in the Top 20 this week and look like a sure bet for a bid, but this team is off an embarrassment losing 38-33 at home to Penn St. Illinois shot just 30% from the floor and had an amazing 0 free throws in the contest. Illinois is still within shouting distance of Michigan St in the Big10 standings at 9-5 and they do have a home date with the Spartans on March 1st. So let’s take a look at both these teams and we’ll start with the visitors from Illinois.
Illinois has been a bit of a surprise team this year in the Big10. Bruce Weber’s squad was not expected to contend for a Big10 title but they’ve gotten solid play out of sophomores McCamey, Tisdale, and Davis. These three guys lead the team in scoring this season led by McCamey’s 11.8 per game and Davis and Tisdale provide the muscle pulling down 11.8 boards per game between them. Illinois obviously a young team so they’re going to have nights like they did against Penn St on Wednesday and it’s yet to be seen whether they’ll hold up in post-season play. Illinois just 4-4 on the road this season and it’s probably a good bet to say that they won’t get to far.
Ohio St off back to back losses at Wisconsin and Northwestern need to get it turned around at home Saturday. Buckeyes a solid 13-2 straight up at home with the only losses against West Virginia & Michigan St, and they’re led by sophomore G/F Evan Turner’s 17.2 points per game. Turner also leads the team in rebounds at 7.3, steals at 1.9, and 3 point shooting with a 47.4% success rate. Much like Illinois, Ohio St is a young squad with no seniors on the roster, and most of their production comes from sophomores and freshmen. Much like Illinois the Buckeyes are young and tend to struggle on the road as evidenced by their 2-5 road record. Ohio St’s tournament resume could really use a quality win and they’ve got their chance here with Illinois at home Saturday night.
As far as a pick on this one Saturday night I’ll advise laying the points with Ohio St. Buckeyes are a 3 point favorite on the advance numbers here and as I’ve mentioned already both teams are like night and day at home and on the road. Ohio St is really in a must win spot here if they want to slip into the NCAA tournament and I expect they’ll get it.
