Purdue vs Ohio State – College Basketball Picks, Odds & Predictions: Winners of seven straight games, the 4th ranked (21-3, 9-3) Purdue Boilermakers [+3½] pay a visit to a team that has won six of their own in the 9th ranked (20-6, 10-3) Ohio State Buckeyes [-3½]. This Big Ten showdown is scheduled to commence at 6:35 PM ET live from the Value City Arena in Columbus, OH. For those interested in betting on the OVER/UNDER, College Basketball Odds makers at SPORTSBOOK.com have projected Purdue and Ohio State to combine to score a total of 134½ points tonight.
With a game that holds huge Big Ten implications, both of these clubs will be looking to stay on course. Going into tonight, Ohio State has won the last nine conference games while Purdue has come out on top in its last seven. The Buckeye players believe that the camaraderie this team has built this season is like one Ohio State hoop fans haven’t seen in years.
“We do all have the same personalities,” OSU center Dallas Lauderdale said. “We watch the same TV shows, the same DVDs and we like the same thing— basketball, pretty much. I can’t really describe it. It’s a crazy feeling. But we like each other.”
“Our chemistry. We execute our stuff, make shots,” said Evan Turner. “We’re definitely just clicking. We have an idea of what we need to do to be successful.”
For the Boilermakers, they’re trying to bounce back from a January 12th defeat at the hands of the Buckeyes. In that game, Turner took over in the late going, scoring 14 of OSU’s final 18 points, finishing with 32 and a 70-66 win. Evan Turner makes plays,” Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter said. “He’s very efficient, probably the best in the country at doing that.”
