Ohio State vs Iowa College Basketball Betting Lines for the Big Ten Tournament

February 2, 2024

Neither Ohio State nor Iowa is an NCAA Tournament team as things stand but both are talented teams capable of making a run in the Big Ten Tournament. They meet for the lone time this regular season on Friday from Iowa City with the Hawkeyes as solid favorites on the NCAAB odds. 2024 NCAA Basketball Betting & Expert Analysis Ohio State vs Iowa | MyBookie Sportsbook Week 13 NCAAB

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

When: Friday, 7 PM ET
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: Fox Sports 1
Stream: Fox Sports Live
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: Iowa -2 (total 82)

Series History

Last season, they played three times including the Big Ten Tournament and the Buckeyes won two of them. However, the Hawkeyes easily won the game in Iowa City, 92-75. Iowa trailed by one point with under three minutes left to play in the first half before four different Hawkeyes drilled triples to end the period on a 12-0 run and head into the locker room up 47-36. OSU never threatened after that. Amazingly, the teams have split 168 total meetings (84-84).

Why Bet on Ohio State Buckeyes?

The Buckeyes (13-8, 3-7) are in a major funk in losing three straight (second time this season) and six of seven and were fairly easily handled at home by No. 14 Illinois on Tuesday, 87-75. The Illini held a 41-34 lead at the break after hitting 7 of 10 in the final 6:32 of the first half. Ohio State went scoreless in the final 2:16 of that span. The Fighting Illini stretched their lead to 16 points in the second half and led double digits for the final 13:31. After OSU allowed Nebraska and Northwestern to hit a combined 53.3% of their three-point attempts in the previous two games, Illinois shot 51.7% from the field and 41.2% from distance.

Jamison Battle scored 21 points and Roddy Gayle Jr. had 20 for the Buckeyes. Battle leads the Big Ten in three-pointers made with 57 and is shooting a league-leading 44.2 percent from beyond the arc. He has also knocked-down his last 22 attempts from the free throw line.

Gayle was a bright spot as well. After scoring a career-high 32 points in an overtime win against West Virginia on Dec. 30, the sophomore had scored just 78 points in Ohio State’s next seven games (11.1) while shooting 32.5% (27 for 83) from the floor and a paltry 8.0% (2 for 25) from 3. Against the Fighting Illini, his 20 points came on mid-range jumpers, drives to the basket and free throws. Ohio State kept its rotations short on Tuesday, with only six players seeing the floor for more than 10 minutes. Freshman forward Devin Royal didn’t enter the game until less than seven minutes remained.

Since they won at Northwestern on New Year’s Day last year to improve to 10-3 overall, the Buckeyes have now gone 19-24 in their last 33 games. Illinois was the third consecutive team to top 83 points against Ohio State, which also has lost 14 straight road games entering Friday. After a win on Jan. 3 against Rutgers, the Buckeyes were averaging over 79 points per game. That was a 14-game sample. Over the last seven, they’ve hit the 79-point mark one time (win over Penn State).

“We need to be nastier,” Coach Chris Holtmann said. “We need to be much nastier. We need to play with more force.”

The Buckeyes are 12-2 this season when hitting the 70-point mark. Defensively, they are 8-0 when holding their opponent to fewer than 70 points and 5-8 when allowing 70 or more.

Holtmann is on the hottest seat in the Big Ten. Holtmann, in his 7th season at OSU, has never advanced past the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He makes roughly $2.3 million a year and would be owed the full remaining salary ($15 million) if he’s fired before April 1.

Why Bet on Iowa Hawkeyes?

Iowa (12-9, 4-6 Big Ten) lost for the third time in four games Tuesday, 74-68 at Indiana. The Hoosiers ended the game on an 8-0 run over the final 86 seconds. Defensively, they held the Big Ten’s highest scoring team to 17 points below their average. Iowa shot 35 percent from the field. Indiana entered having lost three of four and hadn’t beaten Iowa since Feb. 7, 2021.

Junior Payton Sandfort tied a career-high 26 points. Sandfort’s offense kept the Hawkeyes in the game in the first half, as he scored 14 of the team’s 28 first half points. In total, he shot 5-of-12 from downtown and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Sandfort grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Senior Tony Perkins led a second-half comeback scoring 17 points after the break. Once trailing by 17 points, Iowa came back to tie the game at 49 with just over 10 minutes remaining. Sandfort gave Iowa the lead, 66-64, with under two minutes to play. A 3-pointer from Indiana’s Gabe Cupps gave the Hoosiers the lead that they would hold for the rest of the game.

“I was really proud of that, their effort,” Coach Fran McCaffrey said. “Their execution for the most part. They just kept coming. When you’re on the road and your behind it can get away from you. Especially in this building. We didn’t let it get away from us. That’s what the good teams do. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish it with a few more plays. But we’ll learn from that.”

Perkins finished the game with 22 points and has scored 20+ points in four consecutive games and is averaging 19.3 points over the past eight games. The last Hawkeye to post four consecutive 20-point games was Keegan Murray in the 2021-22 season. Perkins is currently the only player in the Big Ten (and one of eight nationally) with 300+ points, 80+ assists, 75+ rebounds and 35+ steals.

It was the Hawkeyes’ second game decided by seven or fewer points this season (0-2). The Hawkeyes shot a season-low 35.4 from the field and were out-rebounded, 45-32. Iowa finished the game with three turnovers – tied for the fewest turnovers in a game in the McCaffery era.

Even with that effort, Iowa is one the nation’s top offensive teams, averaging 84.4 points, second 11th nationally. The team has scored at least 84 points in 13 games, averaging 94.3 points in wins and 70.6 points in losses. The Hawkeyes are second in the Big Ten and rank sixth nationally, averaging 19 assists per game. Iowa is leading the nation with a 1.87 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Ohio State vs Iowa Expert Prediction

Iowa 79, Ohio State 75

Iowa vs #16 Ohio State | Odds, Preview and Analysis College Basketball

Not long ago, Iowa looked like a lock NCAA Tournament team but now the Hawkeyes are probably on the bubble with a 14-7 overall record and 4-6 Big Ten mark as they visit No. 16 Ohio State in conference play on Thursday. The Buckeyes are favored on the NCAAB odds.

• When: Thursday, 8 PM ET
• Where: Value City Arena
• TV: Fox Sports 1
• Stream: Fox Sports Go
• Radio: Tunein.com
• Opening NCAAB Lines: Ohio State -5 (total 152.5)

Last Meeting

This is the only scheduled meeting of the season. Last season, they split two. The on in Columbus was a 73-57 Iowa upset win when the Hawkeyes were No. 9 and Buckeyes No. 4. Luka Garza had 24 points and pulling down 10 rebounds and Joe Weiskamp added 19 points — including 5-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. They are both gone now. E.J. Liddell had 15 points and Justice Sueing scored 10 for the Buckeyes. Liddell remains OSU’s star. Sueing is hurt.

The overall series is tied 82-82 between the two programs and the Buckeyes have outscored Iowa by just 26 points in the 164 meetings.

Why Bet on Iowa?

Iowa lost its second straight game Monday, 90-86 in double OT at Penn State. John Harrar scored a career-high 19 points with 10 rebounds, and Seth Lundy added 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead Penn State. The game featured 15 ties and 15 lead changes. Iowa opened the second overtime with a basket but did not make another field goal until Keegan Murray’s 3-pointer with 1.5 left.

It was Iowa’s first overtime contest of the season; Iowa’s first double overtime game since Feb. 8, 2017 (at Minnesota); and fourth overtime contest in the Iowa-Penn State series.

Murray, who scored all of his game-high 21 points in the second half and overtime sessions, tipped in a Jordan Bohannon missed 3-point field goal at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.

Iowa’s starting guards Joe Toussaint and Jordan Bohannon combined to score two points on 0-for-11 shooting from the field. Toussaint totaled just under 19 minutes of action in the game and made his biggest contribution on the boards with five rebounds. Bohannon (1,848) is 11 points from tying and 12 points from surpassing Aaron White (1,859) for third place on Iowa’s all-time scoring chart.

Connor (4) and Patrick McCaffery (3) combined to make seven of Iowa’s 11 three-pointers. Both Connor and Patrick equaled career highs in 3-pointers made. Patrick tied season bests in scoring (16) and rebounding (7) Connor scored a season-high 12 points, netting all 12 in the first half. The redshirt senior entered the game with four 3-point field goals this season, he matched that total sinking 4-of-6 in the first half.

Connor left the game with four minutes remaining with an upper body injury and is not expected to play in this game. At first, the team was worried he separated his shoulder but it’s just a bad contusion.

“Right now I don’t think he can dribble. That would be a problem,” Coach Fran McCaffrey said. Fran McCaffery is also Connor’s dad.

Iowa can ill afford to lose one of its most-experienced players. McCaffery also had 6 rebounds and 3 steals in his 16 minutes of playing time vs. PSU. Others will have slack to pick up in his absence. The Hawkeyes are second in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.82); third in fewest turnovers per game (8.9); and fourth in turnover margin (6.0).

Why Bet on Ohio State?

The Buckeyes (13-5) have been off since an 81-78 loss at No. 6 Purdue on Sunday. Jaden Ivey freed himself on the wing in front of the Boilermakers bench and delivered a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left. He scored 21 points and made 3 of 6 from beyond the arc after coming off the bench for the second straight game since missing one game with an injured hip flexor. Purdue had led 52-32 with 14:35 remaining.

Malaki Branham and star EJ Liddell each finished with 20 points to pace the Buckeyes. In addition to Branham’s 11 points in the second half, Liddell scored 14 of his 20 after the break, including the Buckeyes’ final seven points. Cedric Russell and Eugene Brown III each played well off the bench, scoring nine points apiece. Kyle Young had the crucial late steal that led to the tying bucket and also finished with seven points and two assists.

It was the Buckeyes’ fourth game this season decided by a bucket in the final seconds and the seventh game that featured a one-possession lead with less than 20 seconds to play in regulation.

Liddell is on a number of midseason watch lists, including the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25. Liddell is the only player in the country averaging 19.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.8 assists per game. Braham is the only other Buckeye averaging in double figures at 10.6.

Through the first 14 games of the season, the Buckeyes were averaging nearly 13 turnovers per game. Over the last four, OSU is averaging 7.3 per game including a season-low six in each of the last two.

Expert Prediction

• Ohio State 80, Iowa 76