The Monday after the Super Bowl sort of feels like going back to work the day after a holiday. It is just one of those days where the hump is a little bit taller and the climb is a little more taxing. Fortunately, those that had a rough Super Bowl or those that prefer college basketball have a full slate of games to examine.
Spotlight games are hardly plentiful on Monday, but we’ve got a good one in the 9 p.m. ET timeslot from College Park, where the Maryland Terrapins host the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes are -3.5 with a total of 139.5 at Bookmaker Sportsbook on the overnight lines, as we’re getting this one out a little earlier to you.
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes are coming off of a big, emotional win over Iowa on Thursday night that vaulted them well up into the top 10 on most college basketball ranking sites. Chris Holtmann has done a phenomenal job with this Buckeyes bunch. They’ve had some injury issues and players in and out of the lineup, but they’ve been able to persevere and really have exceeded a lot of preseason expectations. Per Bart Torvik, Ohio State now owns eight Quadrant-1 wins and six Quadrant-1A wins, including that victory in Iowa City a few days ago. The Buckeyes have one huge weakness and it’s that they don’t force turnovers. They only had six takeaways in the win over Iowa, but scored 89 points to pull the upset over the Hawkeyes. Their 1.271 points per possession were a season-high in Big Ten play, so we could see a little bit of regression here against the Terps. The Buckeyes now rank in the top five in adjusted offensive efficiency. They take great care of the basketball, get to the line a lot, make their free throws, and make a lot of two-point shots. They are 66th in the country at 52.9% on those attempts. They are actually shooting 53.9% in league play. Many, myself included, have been looking for some regression from Ohio State, though. They’re shooting just shy of 48% on “Far Twos” as defined by Torvik. Mid-range jump shots are typically low-percentage opportunities, but the Buckeyes have proven to be a pretty quality jump-shooting team all the way around, including a 35% mark from three-point range. A big key for the Buckeyes is that they have a lot of scoring threats. Teams that are limited offensively usually have one or two big scorers and if they have an off game, that makes it very hard to win. Ohio State has a lot of scorers and gets a lot of bench production.CLAIM YOUR WELCOME BONUS AT BOOKMAKER SPORTSBOOK