The Buckeyes moved to 5-1 on the season after a dominating victory in the Championship Game of the Emerald Coast Classic. They defeated Santa Clara by 30 points and will look to keep that energy rolling against a MAC opponent. The first tip between the Central Michigan Chippewas and Ohio State is set for 7:00 pm ET on BTN.
PREVIEWING CENTRAL MICHIGAN:
The Chippewas are 2-4 on the season, with their most recent loss coming to Stetson last week. They are looking to improve on a 10-21 record last season that led them to 9th in the conference.
Projected Starters:
Anthony Pritchard (G)
Cayden Vasko (G)
Aidan Rubio (G)
Brian Taylor (G)
Markus Harding (F)
The Chippewas aren’t a great offensive team, they sit at 330th in the nation in points per game, coming in at 64.8
They are led in scoring by Tulsa transfer Anthony Pritchard who is giving them 14.5 points per contest and dishing out 5.3 assists. Fellow guard Brian Taylor, also a former transfer, is averaging double figures at 11.2 points per game. To round out the double-figure scorers in the starting rotation has been Markus Harding with 11.4 points. For the Chippewas to pull off an upset, these 3 have to be clicking and probably have career nights.
The Chippewa defense is also poor, which isn’t a great combination with their bad offense. Their season totals have landed them in the bottom 50 of college basketball in these categories.
THE BUCKEYES:
Projected Starters:
Bruce Thornton (G)
Roddy Gayle (G)
Evan Mahaffey (G)
Jamison Battle (F)
Felix Okpara (C)
The play of Roddy Gayle and Bruce Thornton continues to be at a high level. Coach Holtmann. Bruce Thornton made the comment that he feels they could be one of the top backcourts in America. They will be tough to beat if they continue to play like this. However, the real question for the Buckeyes will be, what happens when shots aren’t falling, who will be the guy to pick them up? Once that adversity hits and that question has to be answered, we’ll know the true grit of this group.
There have been no changes to injuries since the last game, so the availability and bench depth remains the same.
PREDICTION:
The Buckeyes are massive favorites at home against a really bad team. With how they are playing of late, I don’t see any reason they can’t cover 24.5 points.
Final: Buckeyes 85, Chippewas 54
Featured Image: Paul Vernon, AP Photo
Gabe Woodcox is a content contributor for The Silver Bulletin. He is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a graduate of The Ohio State University with a major of Sport Industry. Gabe has been working closely with Ohio State athletics during his sport industry tenure, writing for BuckeyesNews and working most recently with 97.1 The Fan. He is an avid Buckeye basketball and sports betting fanatic and will continue his education in a Turf Management Masters program next fall.