Game Day Essentials: Game #14 at Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio St Info

Head Coach: Thad Motta

Location: Columbus, OH

Conference: B1G 10

Nickname: Buckeyes

Mascots: Brutus Buckeye

Last time out: Beat Purdue

Typical Rotation Depth: 6-7 players

Line: OSU by 18

Not Fun Fact: Last year's 9 point loss in Lincoln was the closest the Huskers have played OSU. The most the Huskers have scored in Columbus was 44 points last year.

Not Fun Fact: This is the 3rd year in a row the Huskers have been scheduled to travel to Columbus the first week of January.

Possible Starters

Huskers

0 Tai Webster 6-4 194 Fr

15 Ray Gallegos 6-2 182 Sr

5 Terran Petteway 6-6 209 Jr

31 Shavon Shields 6-7 219 So

35 Walter Pitchford 6-10 234 So

Buckeyes

4 Aaron Craft 6-2 195 Sr

3 Shannon Scott 6-1 185 Jr

32 Lenzelle Smith 6-4 210 Sr

10 LaQuinton Ross 6-8 220 Jr

23 Amir Williams 6-11 250 Jr

The Skinny

Once again the jerks at the B1G scheduling office have put us at Ohio St in the first week of January. While the Buckeyes have lost Deshaun Thomas to the NBA and this is the most talented team the Huskers have brought to Columbus, the Huskers are a deserved 17 point underdog in this game.

Ohio State has a balanced scoring offense so you can't just concentrate on stopping one guy. They don't necessarily shoot the 3 or FTs all that well but with their defense that really hasn't been a problem so far. KenPom's #1 rated defense has held a couple of teams under 40 including Marquette on the road. Is Amir Williams going to pop out of the lane to guard Pitchford or will he just sit there is a zone? Can the Huskers hit the 16 foot jumpers which is the only shot Ohio St won't heavily contest?

Ohio State has proven over the last 2 years it doesn't really matter if there is a student section or not in order to whoop on Nebraska. Will looking forward to their toughest test of the year at Michigan St prove to be a distraction? Probably not.

Prediction: Ohio St 72 - Nebraska 54