COLLEGE BASKETBALL – TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2009
Northwestern Wildcats (13-4) v #21 Ohio State Buckeyes (13-5)
The Northwestern Wildcats hit the road to take on the No. 21 Ohio Sate Buckeyes at the Value City Arena in Columbus, OH on Tuesday night.
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The Buckeyes beat the Wildcats 52-47 at the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis on Mar 8, 2009.
Northwestern is coming off a huge upset as they downed No. 4 Purdue 72-64 on Saturday. It is the first time since defeating then-No. 4 Michigan State 83-65 back in 1979 that the Wildcats haven beaten a team ranked as high as sixth on their home court. Michael “Juice” Thompson led Northwestern with 20 points while Luka Mirkovic finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win. The Wildcats out rebounded Purdue 42-23, dominating them in the paint. Northwestern ranks among the nation’s most-efficient ball handling teams and entered the weekend as the country’s leader in assists per basket (73.0 percent) and sixth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Wildcats need build on the Purdue victory as they now face a red-hot Ohio State squad on Tuesday.
They will have their hands full as the Buckeyes are coming off back-to-back wins over top ranked Purdue and Wisconsin and show no signs of slowing. David Lighty helped Ohio State by scoring 18 points to lead the Buckeyes to a 60-51 victory over No. 13 Wisconsin on Saturday night and righted themselves after losing three of four to start conference play. Star swingman Evan Turner had 15 points despite finishing with four fouls, and William Buford added 12 rebounds in the win. The victory also improved Ohio State’s record to 11-0 at Value City Arena, which is certainly bad news for the Wildcats.
The odds makers have Ohio State at –11.5-point favorites in this one.
The Buckeyes dropped out of contention after Evan Turner suffered broken bones in his back last month but after beating two ranked teams—Purdue and Wisconsin seem to be one of the conferences tougher contenders.
Look for the Wildcats to hang tough for most of the game as the Buckeyes blow it open midway through the second half wining by double digits.
- Northwestern is 12-3 SU in its last 15 games
- Northwestern is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games on the road
- Northwestern is 7-18 SU in its last 25 games on the road
- Northwestern is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing Ohio State
- Ohio State is 3-7 ATS in its last 10 games
- Ohio State is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Ohio State’s last 7 games
- Ohio State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
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