Betting Big Ten Tuesday on Peacock
At the beginning of February, the Wisconsin Badgers sat atop the Big Ten standings. Many thought this veteran group were legitimate contenders to take down Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers and win the conference regular season title.
Fast forward to the eve of Valentine’s Day and the profound love for this Badgers’ team (16-8, 8-5) is a distant memory. Losers of four straight (straight up and ATS), the prevailing thought is, “Can the Badgers get right?”. Their offense is in the tank despite consistently getting good looks, and they have stopped guarding anyone on the defensive end.
Enter perhaps the perfect tonic: the Ohio State Buckeyes. Chris Holtman’s squad has won but twice (including this past weekend at home against Maryland) since losing at home to Wisconsin on January 10th. Without a conference win on the road this season, the Buckeyes enter the game sitting second to last in the conference with a mark of 4-9 in the Big Ten and 14-10 overall.
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Ohio State (+360) @ Wisconsin (-470)
Spread: Badgers -9 | Total: 139
Wisconsin is 11-2 overall and 7-6 ATS at the Kohl Center. They average 79.8pts/game at home which is nearly 3½ more than on the road. The Badgers are 10-3 to the OVER at home. The Buckeyes average just 69 points per game on the road and are 1-5 ATS as a result.
Defensively, neither of these teams have been impressive of late. Wisconsin is allowing 76.2 points per game over the course of this losing streak (about eight more points per game than prior to the streak). The Buckeyes give up 76.5 points per game in Big Ten play this season (as opposed to a mere 70 in nonconference affairs).
After seeing those numbers, expecting the OVER to hit is realistic. A couple additional numbers to support that play include free throw percentage and three-point shooting defense. Each team is shooting a respectable 76.3% at the charity stripe. At the Kohl Center, the Badgers head to the line a robust 25 times per game. The Buckeyes shoot from the charity stripe a modest 19.8 times per road game. Neither of these teams takes an inordinate number of 3s per game, but each shoot a reasonable 34% from deep. The stat that makes us optimistic is these are the two worst teams in the conference at defending the three. Each allows teams to convert over 36% of the time.
Playing the Game Total OVER 139 is a solid look tonight at the Kohl Center.
Enjoy another Big Ten Tuesday Night on Peacock along with a sweat or two.
