The No. 19 Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0) meet the Purdue Boilermakers (4-2) Wednesday at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind., for each team’s Big Ten season opener. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the Ohio State-Purdue college basketball betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 19 in the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll.
Ohio State at Purdue: Betting odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 1:08 p.m. ET.
- Money line: Ohio State +170 (bet $100 to win $170) | Purdue -200 (bet $200 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Ohio State +4.5 (-110) | Purdue -4.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 133.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)
Ohio State at Purdue: Three things to know
- Ohio State edged out Cleveland State at home as a 23-point favorite 67-61. The Buckeyes play a very methodical style of basketball as they feature the 287th-fastest pace in the nation and rarely turn the ball over (sixth in turnover percentage).
- Purdue eased past Indiana State 80-68 in its last game but didn’t cover as a 15.5-point favorite. Boilermakers PF Trevion Williams balled out to the tune of 30 points on 13-for-18 shooting and 11 rebounds in the win.
- Since 2017 (Chris Holtmann’s first season as Buckeyes head coach), Ohio State is just 7-12 ATS as a road dog, while Purdue has performed well as a home favorite (28-20-1 ATS with a plus-3.9-point average ATS margin).
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Ohio State at Purdue: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Purdue 70, Ohio State 60
Money line (ML)
PASS. I’m on Purdue (-200) here, but it’s too expensive for a conference opener. Ohio State is undefeated and beat the brakes off Purdue 68-52 in last season’s meeting.
Against the spread (ATS)
Purdue’s effective field-goal percentage is 42 points higher (.547 eFG% vs. .505 eFG%) and has played a much harder schedule: The Boilermakers are ranked 84th in strength of schedule and Ohio State is 270th.
Also, the Boilermakers do a better job moving the ball: 19th in assists per field goals made with five players who average double figures in points per game, while the Buckeyes are ranked 195th in assists per field goals made.
Lastly, this is your quintessential Pros vs. Joes game: 52% of the money is on Purdue, but 62% of the bets are on Ohio State. It makes sense. The Buckeyes are one of the most popular athletic colleges in the country. Plus, they’re ranked and undefeated whereas the Boilermakers are not. Yet BetMGM made the non-ranked, two-loss team a clear favorite.
GIMME PURDUE -4.5 (-110) for 2 units.
Over/Under (O/U)
Using 2017 as a starting point again, both teams’ O/U trends have me leaning UNDER 133.5 (-105). The most lopsided total trends are for Ohio State, which is 7-12 O/U as a road dog and 16-26 O/U in Big Ten games since 2017.
Furthermore, I mentioned how methodical Ohio State is. Well, Purdue plays almost as slow (266th-fastest pace in the country). That being said, I wouldn’t bet UNDER 133.5 (-105) too heavy because we aren’t getting the best of the number – the total opened at 136.
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