Oakland Golden Grizzlies vs No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes Gambling Preview + Predictions
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Oakland at Ohio State NCAAB Lines
Date/Time: Thursday, December 23, 8 PM ET
Venue: Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
Broadcast: NONE
Oakland Golden Grizzlies vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Betting Lines
Money Line: OFF
Spread: NA
Over/Under: 92
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Oakland Golden Grizzlies vs. No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes Preview
Tonight Ohio State (11-0) looks to get off to their best season in 20 seasons, but even though Oakland (7-7) is not a college powerhouse they have played a killer schedule so far and have already beat one ranked team. There are no lines for this game at time of writing, but you can be sure that Ohio State will be the heavy betting favorite. Strangely the total of 92 has been posted.
In their last games Ohio State absolutely killed UNC-Asheville 96-49 on Tuesday night while Oakland lost a 103-102 heartbreaker to Valparaiso also on Tuesday.
This season Ohio State is 4-4 ATS while Oakland is 9-5 ATS.
Oakland is 2-0 in Summit League play and they have actually played a much tougher schedule than Ohio State has. So far the Golden Grizzlies have played 4 ranked teams, 3 that were ranked in the top 10, and they beat, then, 7th ranked Tennessee on their home floor. They also gave 8th ranked Michigan State a scare only losing by 1 point.
The Golden Grizzlies are a very high scoring team ranking 15th in the nation and they also rank a legit 33rd in the nation in rebounds per game. Their big gun is 6’11” C Keith Benson, who is the team’s leading scorer (17.4 ppg) and rebounder (10.4 rpg). He has to stay out of foul trouble in this game, as he was limited to a season low 5 points in the loss to Valparaiso because of that.
Oakland has 3 other players that are averaging in double figures in G Reggie Hamilton (16.1 ppg), F Will Hudson (13.5 ppg), and G Larry Wright (10.5 ppg). Hamilton and Wright combined to score 50 points in the loss to Valparaiso and if these 2 guards can shoot the rock well tonight it will open up the inside and give Hudson and Benson room to operate inside.
The Golden Grizzlies will have to figure how to score on the Ohio State defense, which ranks 5th in the country only allowing opponents to score 54.2 points per game. This game is not a good match up for Oakland, as they will likely have to light up the scoreboard against a great Ohio State D since the Golden Grizzlies only rank 290th in the nation allowing opponents to score an average of 75.4 ppg.
The Buckeyes have only played one close game this season and in their 11 games they out-scoring opponents by an average of 26 ppg. They are not only a solid defensive team, but they also rank 26th in the nation in scoring. F Jared Sullinger is the leading scorer (17.6 ppg) and rebounder (10.2 rpg), but he only had 9 points in Ohio State’s last game.
Ohio State’s G/F David Lighty (13.2 ppg) and G Jon Diebler (12.6 ppg) can both light it up from deep and Diebler is connecting on 46.6% of his 3-pointers and Lightly is shooting 42.5% from downtown. The Golden Grizzlies will have to play good perimeter D and not allow these guys to bomb away from deep.
Oakland simply not a good defensive team and while they can score they will not score a ton of points tonight. The Buckeyes will play well on both sides of the court and they will win this game. However, Oakland has covered against some solid teams this season and they will cover the spread tonight.
The Over/Under total has also not been posted, but even though both teams can score I would stay away from that bet. Oakland does have an Over record of 8-3 in their last 11 road games, but Ohio State has an Under record of 5-2 in their last 7 home games.
Betting Trends
Oakland is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 road games and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 non-conference games and Ohio State is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
Pick: Oakland
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