Ohio State Buckeyes vs Penn State Nittany Lions Prediction, 2/18/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Ohio State Buckeyes vs Penn State Nittany Lions

Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021

Location: Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA

TV: BTN

Odds/Point Spread: Ohio State (-5)

Bryce Jordan Center is the venue where and the Penn State Nittany Lions (7-10) will play the Ohio State Buckeyes (17-4) on Thursday. The spread on this game has Ohio State as 5-point favorites. The total has been set at 148.5.

Ohio State heads into this game with a mark of 17-4 for the campaign. They lose possession by turning the ball over 10.3 times per contest and as a unit they are committing 17.9 fouls per contest. As a unit, Ohio State is pulling in 37.3 boards per game and has accounted for 267 dimes on the year, which has them ranked 110th in college basketball in terms of passing the rock. The Buckeyes are connecting on 35.5% on shots from 3-point land (172 of 485) and 77.2% from the charity stripe. They average 77.5 pts per game (62nd in the country) while connecting on 45.6% from the floor. Defensively, the Buckeyes have forced 10.8 turnovers per game while drawing 19.7 personal fouls. The Buckeyes defensively are allowing a field goal percentage of 41.4% (500 of 1,209) and they surrender 32.9 boards per game as a unit. They currently rank 254th in college basketball in giving up assists with 263 conceded so far this year. They are conceding 33.1% on 3-point attempts and they are 113th in D-1 in PPG allowed (68.0).

The Ohio State Buckeyes played the Indiana Hoosiers and took home the win by a score of 78-59 in their last contest. Ohio State ended with a 48.2% field goal percentage (27 out of 56) and made 7 of 16 shots from downtown. From the charity stripe, the Buckeyes converted 17 of 19 attempts for a percentage of 89.5%. In reference to pulling down boards, they earned 35 with 12 of them being of the offensive sort. They also dished out 10 assists in this matchup while having 7 steals and 3 blocks. With respect to defending, Ohio State let their opponent shoot 48.2% from the field on 27 of 56 shooting. Indiana doled out 13 assists and had 3 steals in this contest. In addition, the Hoosiers collected 25 boards (11 offensive, 14 defensive) and added 3 rejections. Indiana ended up going 54.5% at the free throw line by converting 12 of 22 tries. They converted 5 of 15 attempts from 3-point land.

E.J. Liddell is a player who played a role in this game. He ended up with 19 points on 6 of 12 shooting. He played for 31 mins and pulled down 4 rebounds. Liddell ended up going 50.0% from the field and recorded 2 dimes. One more player that was a contributor in the game for the Buckeyes was Justice Sueing. He collected 10 boards and also collected 2 assists. He finished the game shooting 60.0% from the floor in the matchup by hitting 6-of-10 (16 points). When all was said and done, Sueing played 33 min.

Penn State has a mark of 7-10 this season. Penn State has accounted for 1,232 points on the season (72.5 per game) and they average 36.2 boards per game. The Nittany Lions are committing 18.1 fouls per game while shooting 74.0% from the charity stripe. In terms of offensive execution, the Nittany Lions are shooting 41.1% from the field, which ranks them 312th in the country. They are earning an assist 12.6 times per contest (228th in the country) and they lose possession via turnover 11.7 times per game. The Nittany Lions on the defensive side of the court are 240th in college basketball in PPG allowed with 72.7. They are able to force 14.5 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 46.2% from the field (288th in D-1). The Penn State defense gives up 31.4% from downtown (111 of 353) and their opponents are connecting on 73.3% of their free throw attempts. They have relinquished 14.2 assists and 34.5 total boards per game, which ranks them 261st and 158th in the nation.

In their last game, the Penn State Nittany Lions took a loss by a score of 62-61 when they faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Nittany Lions earned 22 defensive boards and 11 offensive rebounds totaling 33 for the game. They rejected 3 attempts while earning 7 steals for the matchup. The Cornhuskers had 12 personal fouls in this game which took the Nittany Lions to the charity stripe for 12 shots. They were able to bury 10 of the free throw tries for a rate of 83.3%. Regarding shots from beyond the arc, Penn State knocked down 9 out of their 31 attempts (29.0%). Overall, the Nittany Lions shot 21 out of 65 from the floor which had them shooting 32.3%. The Nittany Lions permitted the Cornhuskers to make 27 out of 56 tries from the field which gave them a rate of 48.2% in this contest. They went 36.8% from beyond the perimeter by shooting 7 out of 19 and ended up going 1 out of 3 at the free throw line (33.3%). When talking about rebounds, Penn State permitted Nebraska to get 31 in total (3 on the offensive side).

Myreon Jones ended up being a factor for the Nittany Lions in the game. He buried 7 out of 20 in this contest for a field goal percentage of 35.0%, which had him finishing with 18 points. Jones grabbed 4 boards in his 30 mins and had 2 dimes in this game. Another guy that was pivotal for Penn State was Myles Dread. He was able to score 14 points in his 31 minutes on the court via 4 out of 10 shooting for this game. Dread walked away from this one going 40.0% from the floor in addition to contributing 2 dimes and 2 total rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Penn State (+5)

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