Ohio State Buckeyes vs Minnesota Golden Gophers Prediction, 1/3/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Ohio State Buckeyes vs Minnesota Golden Gophers

Date: Sunday, January 3, 2021

Location: Williams Arena in Minneapolis, MN

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Ohio State (-1)

The Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2) are headed to Williams Arena on Sunday where they'll take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (9-2). Ohio State opens this matchup as 1-point favorites. The O/U is set at 148.

Ohio State comes into this one with a record of 8-2 so far this year. The Buckeyes are hitting 31.8% from downtown (71 of 223) and 77.3% from the charity stripe. They average 77.9 points per contest (93rd in Division 1) while shooting 44.9% from the field. They turn it over 9.5 times per contest and as a team they are committing 16.8 fouls per game. As a unit, Ohio State is grabbing 38.4 rebounds per game and has earned 134 assists on the year, which is 75th in Division 1 in terms of passing. On the defensive end, the Buckeyes have forced 12.4 turnovers per game while drawing 20.4 personal fouls. The Buckeyes defensively are allowing a field goal percentage of 40.1% (228 of 569) and they surrender 32.5 boards per game as a group. They rank 284th in Division 1 in allowing assists to the opposition with 129 surrendered on the year. They are giving up 34.6% on 3-point shots and they rank 84th in college basketball in opponents points per game (65.1).

The Ohio State Buckeyes faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers and went home with a win by a final score of 90-54 in their last game. Ohio State wrapped up the contest having earned a 49.2% field goal percentage (31 out of 63) and converted 12 of their 32 shots from downtown. When they shot from the free throw line, the Buckeyes knocked down 16 of their 20 tries for a percentage of 80.0%. In reference to grabbing boards, they earned a total of 39 with 8 of them being offensive. They also distributed 16 assists in this contest in addition to getting 3 steals and 5 rejections. When discussing defending, Ohio State allowed the other team to go 49.2% from the field on 31 out of 63 shooting. Nebraska distributed 3 assists and had 6 steals in the matchup. Moreover, the Cornhuskers had 30 rebounds (8 offensive, 22 defensive) and added 5 blocks. Nebraska finished shooting 71.4% at the charity stripe by knocking down 15 of 21 shots. They made 5 out of their 33 tries from distance.

Justin Ahrens is someone who had an impact in the matchup. He ended up scoring 18 points on 6 of 10 shooting. He played 20 minutes and pulled down 2 rebounds. Ahrens finished the contest at 60.0% from the field and also earned 2 assists. One more player that was a determining factor in this contest for the Buckeyes was Zed Key. He snagged 4 rebounds and also had 2 dimes. He finished the game at 100.0% from the field in this matchup by going 5-of-5 (14 points). When the final whistle blew, Key played 14 minutes.

Minnesota has a record of 9-2 on the season. As an offense, the Golden Gophers are shooting 42.2% from the floor, which is ranked 259th in Division 1. Minnesota has earned 902 points on the year (82.0 per contest) and they collect 39.7 rebounds per contest. Their rate of assisting teammates is at 16.5 times per game (52nd in the nation) and they are turning it over 11.5 times per game. The Golden Gophers have committed 18.5 fouls per contest and they connect on 76.1% from the free throw line. The Golden Gophers on the defensive end are ranked 250th in the country in PPG given up with 73.6. They have relinquished 13.8 assists and 40.7 rebounds per contest, which is ranked 227th and 309th in those categories. The Minnesota defense gives up 31.4% on shots from distance (72 of 229) and their opposition knocks down 71.2% of their foul shots. They are forcing their opponents into 13.9 turnovers on a nightly basis and have allowed teams to shoot 40.8% from the field (101st in D-1).

When they last stepped on the court, the Minnesota Golden Gophers took a loss by a score of 71-59 when they played the Wisconsin Badgers. The Golden Gophers earned 23 defensive rebounds and 15 offensive rebounds for a total of 38 for the matchup. They also stuffed 6 shots while recording 2 steals for the matchup. The Badgers had 15 fouls in the game which got the Golden Gophers to the free throw line for a total of 14 attempts. They were able to knock down 12 of the free throw attempts for a clip of 85.7%. Regarding shooting from downtown, Minnesota converted 7 of 31 attempts (22.6%). When the game finished, the Golden Gophers ended up going 20 out of 64 from the field which gave them a percentage of 31.3%. The Golden Gophers allowed the Badgers to knock down 30 of 59 attempts from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 50.8% for this game. They shot 40.0% from downtown by going 6 out of 15 and finished the contest at 5 out of 8 at the free throw line (62.5%). In the matter of rebounding, Minnesota allowed Wisconsin to collect 35 in total (8 on the offensive glass).

Gabe Kalscheur pitched in for the Golden Gophers for the contest. He buried 4 out of 12 for the game giving him a rate of 33.3%, which earned him 15 points. Kalscheur collected 7 boards in his 36 minutes played and totaled 2 dimes in the game. Another guy that ended being a contributor for Minnesota was Liam Robbins. He ended up walking away with 12 points in his 31 minutes on the hardwood by way of 4 of 11 shooting in the game. Robbins walked away from this one going 36.4% from the floor in addition to totaling 2 assists and 9 total rebounds.

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Ohio State (-1)

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