The Ohio State Buckeyes are in for a tough battle on the road this weekend, as they are set to meet the opportunistic Iowa Hawkeyes, who will feed off the energy of their home crowd. The Buckeyes, however, have not lost on the road this season (as of this writing), so that’s at least one thing going their way.
The Buckeyes are +8,000 to win the national title, while the Hawkeyes are priced the same odds to be the last team standing this season.
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Betting Preview for the Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Iowa Hawkeyes College Basketball Game on January 12, 2019
Where: Carver Hawkeye Arena, Iowa City
When: Saturday, January 12, 2019, 2:30 PM ET
Line: Ohio State Buckeyes (odds) vs. Iowa Hawkeyes (odds) – view all NCAA Basketball lines
TV Broadcast: BTN
Betting on the Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2 Overall / 2-1 Conference)
The Buckeyes are coming off a loss to the No. 8 Michigan State Spartans at home, as of this writing, which is before they face the Rutgers Scarlett Knights on Wednesday. The Buckeyes barely have any excuse to lose to Rutgers, so they should be able to take care of the Scarlett Knights to set them up with a nice cushion heading into their date with Iowa. Speaking of cushion, sophomore forward Kaleb Wesson has been providing his team with plenty of scoring support. He is leading the Buckeyes with 17.1 points per game. He’s also the team’s best rebounder with 6.9 boards per contest. Against Michigan State, he had 25 points and ight rebounds, while shooting 8-for-15 from the field. Wesson needs his teammates to step up, as highlighted in the loss to Michigan State in which he scored almost a third of the team’s total scoring output.
The Buckeyes, who are averaging 77.9 points per game, are both 4-0 straight up (SU) and against the spread (ATS) when playing on the road so far this season.
Betting on the Iowa Hawkeyes (12-3 Overall / 1-3 Conference)
After getting crushed by the Purdue Boilermakers on Jan. 3, 86-70, on the road, the Hawkeyes regrouped and rebounded in the best of ways – by scoring their second win against a ranked opponent of the season, downing the No. 24 Nebraska Cornhuskers at home, 93-84. It took a sudden explosion from junior guard Jordan Bohannon for the Hawkeyes to overcome Nebraska. Bohannon played like a man possessed in the second half of that game, as he drained 22 of his season-high 25 points in the final 20 minutes of the contest with all five buckets coming from behind the arc. Iowa is hoping for Bohannon to carry over that kind of shooting into their next games, but they should also focus on how to contain Wesson in their upcoming matchup with the Buckeyes. If Iowa manages to slow down Wesson, they will have a very good shot at taking down another top Big Ten squad this Saturday. In the Nebraska game, the Hawkeyes took away the Cornhuskers’ 3-point shooting (4-23), which means Iowa knows how to weaken an opponent’s strength.
Iowa is a high-scoring team that’s 18th in the nation with 82.9 points per game. It’s also 9-1 SU in its last 10 games as the home team.
Writer’s Prediction
Iowa wins, 77-73.
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