The No. 23 Ohio State Buckeyes will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, at 7:00 pm ET on BTN.

Buckeye Recap:

The Buckeyes are now 18-8 following one of their worst performances of the year on Sunday, they suffered a 75-60 loss to Maryland in College Park. Despite the loss, they still hold onto the fourth spot in the conference, an important position if they would like a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes will finish their regular season with a three-game homestand against Nebraska, Michigan State, and Michigan. Each of these is as important as the next for maintaining conference positioning as well as earning a quality seed when the NCAA Tournament field is released.

Buckeye Freshman Malaki Branham led all Buckeye scorers with 13, despite a poor shooting performance of 4/13 and 1/6 from long distance. EJ Liddell also struggled to shoot the basketball tallying only 11 points on 3/10 shooting. The only players who shot well were Cedric Russell and Jamari Wheeler scoring 12 and 11 points respectively, but they just didn’t take enough shots to impact the game in a dramatic way. Overall, the Buckeyes looked gassed as shots were falling short, defensive rebounding was again an issue, lazy turnovers popped up, and the normal effort on defense just wasn’t there. The Buckeyes will need to put this game in the rearview mirror quickly in hopes of finishing the season strong.

Who is Nebraska?:

Nebraska is currently 8-21 on the season and sits dead last in the Big Ten with a conference record of 2-16, the 2021-22 season has been less than ideal for the Huskers. However, one of their two conference wins came this past Sunday when they defeated Penn State 93-70 in Happy Valley, the other win was over Minnesota in early February. This is the second time the Huskers will face the Buckeyes, a game that was originally scheduled for January 22^nd but had to be postponed due to Nebraska’s COVID issues. The first meeting went better than expected for the Huskers as they took the Buckeyes to OT, before losing in the extra period.

The Nebraska offense is led by Big Ten Freshman of the Year candidate Bryce McGowens. McGowens is one of the conference’s elite guards and has already shown the ability to light up the scoreboard against the Buckeyes, going for 18 in the first meeting. The other key Huskers are Alonzo Verge and Derrick Walker, whose performances could very much influence the outcome. Verge struggled in the first matchup, but will look for a bounce-back performance against a team that was just torched by the Maryland guards. Walker went for 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first matchup, really giving the Buckeyes trouble down low. This could be a huge factor since the Buckeyes could be short-handed in that area, due to a Zed Key injury.

What to expect:

In the first matchup, a shootout between the two teams led to an overtime thriller in which Ohio State was the victor. For Nebraska, a shootout is often necessary because they have one of the worst scoring defenses in the country, so keeping up with opponents while allowing baskets is often their task. With the potential for Ohio State to be without big man Zed Key, Nebraska may try to exploit Ohio State’s lack of post depth using Mayen and Walker to get down low and score as well as get Liddell and Young into foul trouble.

For Ohio State, avoiding what would be a devastating home loss and upset is most important. This Buckeye team has shown that they are becoming quite fatigued as their schedule has compacted. An overtime game against Indiana and a hard-fought battle against Illinois certainly didn’t help. The Buckeyes need to avoid a flat start like they had against Maryland, the shooting has to be better and the intensity on both ends of the floor has to be there tonight. Taking care of the basketball and cleaning up the glass must be a focus for the Buckeyes that got exploited by Maryland with second-chance points.

Injury News:

-Zed Key: questionable, ankle injury

-Justice Sueing: no change in status

Prediction:

Ohio State is a 14.5 favorite on their home floor. This game, like the first matchup, will probably be high-scoring. With the potential lack of depth down low and the recent trend of inconsistency from the Buckeyes I don’t believe they cover the 14.5, in fact, I think Nebraska could again make this a contest and give the Buckeyes a scare at home. However, I think Holtmann and his guys get the job done on the backs of Liddell, Branham, and Young.

Final: 82-78, Ohio State

How to watch:

Catch all the action at 7:00 pm ET on BTN.

Featured Image: John C. Peterson

No. 23 Ohio State begins their final homestand tonight, taking on last-place Nebraska. Click To Tweet