NIT Basketball Odds: Georgia vs Ohio State Quarterfinals

We have to wait until Thursday for the NCAA Tournament to restart in the Sweet 16, but there is NIT quarterfinal action on Tuesday night when Georgia visits Ohio State in what would be a fabulous football matchup. The Buckeyes are solid favorites on the NCAAB odds.

MyBookie Line NCAAB Expert Analysis Georgia vs Ohio State | Quarterfinals National Invitation Tournament Betting Odds

How to Bet Georgia at Ohio State NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
Where: Value City Arena, Columbus
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Ohio State -4.5 (total 71)

Why Bet on Georgia Bulldogs?

Georgia (19-16) beat Xavier by two in the first round of the NIT and then upset Wake Forest 72-66 on Sunday, although the Demon Deacons were without their leading scorer due to injury. Facing a 19-point deficit in the second half, Wake Forest nearly came all the way back, battling to get the margin down to four points before eventually falling.

Bulldogs Last 5

@ Wake Forest – W72-66

vs Xavier – W78-76

vs Florida – L85-80

vs Missouri – W64-59

@ Auburn – L92-78

Senior forward Andrew Carr finished with a career-high 31 points to go along with 10 rebounds in the loss, becoming the second player in the Steve Forbes era to have a 30-point, 10-rebound game. The other being Jake LaRavia on Jan. 22, 2022 against North Carolina.

Justin Hill led the Bulldogs in scoring with a new season high of 21 points. Noah Thomasson added 19 points, going 5-for-8 from behind the arc while Dylan James posted a career-high in scoring with 14 points and four 3-pointers made. After taking the lead at 16-14, the Bulldogs never surrendered the advantage, handing Wake Forest its second home loss of the season.

“Hill and Thomasson were outstanding. James was 4-of-15 coming into the game and he drained four,” Wake coach Steve Forbes said. “This is what happens, when you start making shots the basket looks a lot bigger. It didn’t look too big for him earlier. They were turning it over and looked a little discombobulated. Then Georgia got going and we let them go. The crowd was phenomenal and I credit them for trying to will us to win. They were standing on their feet wanting us to go and we were trying. We just couldn’t get over the hump. Credit to Georgia for coming in here and getting a win which is hard to do. That was our first non-conference loss since I’ve been the head coach here.”

Georgia was missing 7-foot, 280-pound starting center Russel Tchewa, the team’s leading rebounder. Wake Forest took full advantage by outscoring UGA 40-12 in the paint, but Georgia compensated with red-hot 3-point shooting, canning 14 of 27 (51.9 percent). Forwards Jabri Abdur-Rahim and RJ Sunahara were out as well.

The win marked head coach Mike White’s 15th postseason win in his coaching career: “Let’s go do the same thing to Ohio State,” White said after UGA’s fifth road win of the season over a Power 5 opponent. “We’re going to be in Columbus anyway, might as well compete.”

Georgia ranks No. 20 nationally in bench scoring at 28.8 ppg. The Bulldogs’ bench has outscored the opponents’ reserves in 28 of 35 games en route to compiling a season scoring margin of +345 or +10.2 ppg.

UGA was given a gift when Ole Miss turned down the NIT. It will be only the second time the programs have met, with UGA winning the only other meeting by an 84-80 count in Louisville in the 1977-78 season. The Bulldogs are making their 15th appearance in the NIT and now have a 15-14 all-time record in the tournament. It’s their first trip to the NIT quarterfinals since 1998. UGA’s best NIT finishes came in 1982 and 1998 when it advanced to the semifinal round.

Bet Georgia to Win
NIT Betting Odds, Basketball USA

NIT Quarterfinals Picks Odds Subject to Change	SPREAD	MONEYLINE	TOTAL
Ohio State	-4.5	-280	O 71
Georgia	+4.5	+190	U 71

Why Bet on Ohio State Buckeyes?

Ohio State (22-13) beat Cornell by five in Round 1 of the NIT and then took out Virginia Tech 81-73 in Round 2 on Saturday in Columbus. OSU took the lead with 6:13 to go in the first half and did not relinquish it against the Hokies.

Buckeyes Last 5

vs Virginia Tech – W81-73

vs Cornell – W88-83

vs Illinois – L77-74

vs Iowa – W90-78

@ Rutgers – W73-51

“It was choppy,” Coach Jake Diebler said. “We missed some shots we usually make, we struggled on a couple of finishes around the rim. But we’ve talked about, ‘Stay aggressive, move on quickly, don’t let one play affect another’ and our guys have really embraced that.”

Jamison Battle scored a game-high 21 points on 17-of-18 from the foul line to lead the Buckeyes. Battle’s 17 free throws were one shy of the program’s single-season record. He also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to notch his first double-double of the season and the ninth of his career. Battle is now six points from 1,000 career.

Felix Okpara finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Those two blocks give him a block in 41-consecutive games, which is the longest streak by any Buckeye in the last 30 years. He passed all-time shot block leader Ken Johnson, who had a streak of 40 consecutive games. Okpara is one of two players nationally with 60 or more blocks who have blocked a shot in every game this season.

Point guards Dale Bonner and Bruce Thornton both scored 12 points and had two steals. Thornton dished out seven assists and committed just one turnover. He leads the Big Ten and is second nationally with a 3.78 assist-to-turnover ratio. Roddy Gayle Jr. was the fifth Buckeye in double figures with 11 points. Behind Battle, the Buckeyes were a season-best 29-of-32 from the charity stripe. They also won the rebounding battle 40-38.

Since Feb. 14 under Diebler, the Buckeyes are 12th overall in adjusted efficiency and the defensive efficiency is the 14th best in the country during that time. Diebler was originally named the interim coach for the fired Chris Holtmann but has since been promoted to the full-time job.

Freshman Scotty Middleton remains away from the team for personal reasons and it’s not clear if he will return for Tuesday. He is averaging 4.4 points per game this season but 6.3 points per game since Diebler took over as head coach. During that eight-game span, Middleton has shot a blistering 65% from beyond the arc. In other words, he’s converted 13-of-20 3-pointers.

The Buckeyes are now 21-8 all-time in the NIT, including 13-3 at home. The winner between Ohio State and Georgia will face the winner of Seton Hall and UNLV. The semifinals are set to take place on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Bet Ohio State to Win
NIT Betting Odds, Basketball USA