Hurting Minnesota Plays Host to No. 16 Ohio State
Golden Gophers Looking To Beat Buckeyes
The heavy hitters are tightly bunched atop the Big Ten standings with the top four teams each with two conference losses. Ohio State will need to win its third true road game to remain among that elite company.
Minnesota has won the last two games when playing host to Ohio State including a 17-point win last season. The Golden Gophers have covered in each of the last four games against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State (+500) had the third-best odds to win the Big Ten title heading into the season
Big Ten odds while Minnesota (+25000) was the ultimate underdog in the Big Ten race.
- Game: Ohio State (12-4) at Minnesota (11-5)
- Location: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Day/Time: Thursday, January 27, 6:00 p.m. ET
- Television: ESPN
Ohio State Buckeyes at Minnesota Golden Gophers
Milestone Watch for Ohio State’s Liddell
E.J. Liddell needs 12 points to become the 60th player in Ohio State program history with 1,000 career points.
The junior forward has scored in double figures in every game this season helping him lead the Buckeyes in scoring averaging 19.4 points per game. He has topped 12 points in each of his last four games including a 34-point effort in a win over Northwestern. He has also connected on at least 50% of his shots in each of those four games.
He has been held relatively in check in road games, contributing 14 points on 36% shooting. He averaged just 12 points per game as the Buckeyes split two games with Minnesota a season ago.
The key for Ohio State is getting help for Liddell. That was especially true against Indiana when Liddell was just 3-of-11 from the field. Freshman Malaki Branham stepped up to add 13 points but the other three starters combined for 11 points on 3-of-13 shooting.
The point guard position is an area of concern heading into the Minnesota game as Meechie Johnson and Jamari Wheeler are considered to be game-time decisions. Wheeler is the team leader with 60 assists and 26 steals and is second on the team in minutes played while Johnson is third on the team with 20 three-pointers
Ohio State could be down two point guards at Minnesota tomorrow night, as Jamari Wheeler and Meechie Johnson are game-time decisions. FREE on @Bucknuts247https://t.co/r1tGbNGrmj pic.twitter.com/wLqmIW4Wp4
— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) January 26, 2022
Ohio State had some extra time to prepare for face Minnesota as a game against Nebraska was postponed due to health and safety protocols. The last time Ohio State played, the result was an 83-37 win over IUPUI. It was Chris Holtmann’s 99th win as the head coach for the Buckeyes.
Ohio State has covered against the college basketball odds in just one of its last five games against Minnesota.
Minnesota Needs Players To Return
There might not be a team in the country that hasn’t had to deal with shortened rosters due to injury or illness but Minnesota took things to a different level. At one point the Golden Gophers competed with seven scholarship athletes and a recent game against Penn State was postponed because Minnesota didn’t have enough available players.
With three starters out of action, Minnesota returned to the court and topped Rutgers behind 32 points from Payton Willis who tied a program record with eight three-pointers in the 68-65 win. Willis was one of three Minnesota players to be on the court for all 40 minutes.
Third-leading scorer E.J. Stephens is expected back but leading scorer Jamison Battle is a game-time decision due to a non-COVID illness and there are also questions about the availability of Eric Curry who is leading the Golden Gophers with an average of 6.8 rebounds per game.
Willis and Luke Loewe are the only Golden Gophers to start all 16 games and Charlie Daniels is the only player to appear in each game this season.
The win over Rutgers was the first in five games Minnesota played in January and just the second conference win of the season. Minnesota shot 54% from three-point range and had its sixth game making at least 50% of its field-goal attempts this season after failing to connect on 50% in any of the 29 games played last season.
The Golden Gophers are 2-5 against the college basketball spread in their last seven games.
Minnesota Looks To Keep Rolling Against Ohio State
Minnesota has won three of the last four games versus Ohio State after the Buckeyes won 13 of the previous 15 matchups.
Rebounding has been an issue for Minnesota this season as the Golden Gophers are one of three Big Ten teams being outrebounded this season.
Ohio State is just 1-5 against the spread in its last six road games.
The total has gone over in 10 of Ohio State’s last 15 games and in four of Minnesota’s last five games. However, until the status of the availability of two Minnesota starters is known it could be risky going over the total for those who bet online.
