Minnesota Basketball: Three keys to getting a win at #16 Ohio State

Columbus

7:30 PM

BTN

Ohio St

HEY, the Gophers are coming off a win over Penn State at home, can they turn abound get another one? This time at Columbus against the Buckeyes?

Ohio State

Mascot: Buckeyes
Record: 15-6
KenPom Rank: 21

The Buckeyes a potential Sweet 16 caliber team with talent to go further. As of this moment they are coming off an 11-point win at Michigan and are looking to get themselves back into the Big Ten race.

Can the Gophers thwart this and get consecutive Big Ten wins?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Play some defense - Statistically we have given up a defensive efficiency number of 133 or worse just twice this year. And one of those was Ohio State at home. That cannot happen again. The problem is that we just haven’t been playing great defense in 2022, so seeing this change will be a challenge.

Slow down EJ Liddell - His 23 and 15 at The Barn is not an unusual number to see for an opposing big man this year. But someone has to find a way to slow him down or make him less comfortable. But this is a bad matchup for the Gophers. Hopefully having Curry back will help.

Find some efficient offense again - The offense has been struggling as of late and fortunately Ohio State doesn’t have a suffocating defense. Maybe this turns into a bit of a shootout and we are highly efficient on offense.

PREDICTION

I don’t see the Gophers winning this one on the road. If you’re a betting fan, I would actually take Minnesota to cover the 13 (especially if OSU takes an early lead, I might take Minnesota with a live bet). And if you are into the Prize Picks app, I would be sure to include Liddell into any prop parlay.

Minnesota - 68
Ohio State - 77