The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers meet Wednesday in Big Ten Tournament college basketball action from United Center. Ohio State comes into this one at 13-18 overall after a loss to Michigan State on Saturday. As for Wisconsin, they’re 17-13 on the season. The Badgers beat Minnesota on Sunday in their most recent appearance. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes managed an 11-13 record across their first 24 outings of the season. Ohio State finished off the year on a 2-5 skid, falling to Michigan State, Iowa, Purdue, Penn State and Michigan State again with wins otherwise over Illinois and Maryland.
On Saturday versus Michigan State, the Buckeyes went into the locker room with a 43-34 deficit. Ohio State hit a 44-41 advantage from there in an 84-78 defeat. Leading scorer Brice Sensabaugh posted 21 points and Bruce Thornton added 20 points.
Wisconsin Badgers
Over on the Wisconsin side, they managed a 13-9 run over their first 22 games this year. The Badgers went 4-4 to finish off the year with wins over Penn State, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. The losses came to Nebraska, Rutgers, Michigan and Purdue otherwise.
Matched up against Minnesota on Sunday, the Badgers were down 36-29 going into the second half. Wisconsin hit a 42-31 stretch in the second for the comeback win 71-67, though. Both Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl posted 21 points and seven rebounds each.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stay with Wisconsin in this one. The Badgers have been a pretty up-and-down team lately, and they started slow in the Minnesota game on Sunday. That said, Wisconsin has been pretty solid defensively with 67 or fewer points allowed in five of the last six outings. These teams last saw each other back on February 2 at Value City Arena. In that one, the Badgers stormed out to a 43-27 halftime lead but had to scramble a bit in the second during a 65-60 win. Ohio State has hit 71 or more points in four straight games, so Wisconsin will probably need to hit the offensive gas in this one. I think the Badgers will pull it off if they play well.