Penn State vs. Ohio State: Today’s Best College Basketball Bets

Division I’s longest active winning streak is put to the test as the Eastern Washington Eagles bring their 17-game winning streak into a road battle with the Weber State Wildcats. We focus on this matchup and two others from the Big Ten in our college basketball best bets column for Thursday.

Here are our best bets for Thursday’s college basketball action. Below is a closer look at Penn State vs. Ohio State.

YTD (as of 1/21): 35-27

Also, take a look at our other best bets for Thursday:

View 5-star bets and historical prop performance by players with our Prop Bet Analyzer >>

Best College Basketball Bets for Thursday: Penn State vs. Ohio State

(Odds courtesy of DraftKings)

Penn State vs. Ohio State

The Nittany Lions and Buckeyes have combined to lose 10 of 12 games, primarily because they are two of the weaker teams defensively in the Big Ten. Penn State and Ohio State rank 11th and 13th among Big Ten teams in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency (per KenPom). And with each team reeling, we expect little attention to detail on the defensive end.

Penn State’s NCAA tournament hopes are on life support, though it does enter this game on a two-game winning streak on the backs of an offense that has shot 22-for-54 (40.7%) from 3-point range. However, the Nittany Lions lost four straight games before that and still connected on better than 40% of its 3-point attempts in that span.

Penn State head coach Micah Shrewsberry attempts to hide his team’s defensive efficiencies with low-possession games (Penn State ranks 297th nationally in adjusted tempo). Still, the Nittany Lions do not sacrifice anything on the offensive end with that style, ranking tops in Big Ten play in effective field goal percentage (56.3%). Thus, we are not worried about Penn State’s ability to score, and Ohio State still ranks 28th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency despite losing 13 of its last 14 games.

Penn State entered the week as the most profitable Over team in the Big Ten (16-11 O/U record), and the Over has cashed in five of Ohio State’s eight games after having 4+ days off.

Bet: Penn State-Ohio State Over 142 (-110 at DraftKings)

Go premium to view top prop bets based on Cover Probability, Expected Value & Star Rating >>

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Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.