Big Ten Tournament Championship
#6 Penn State Nittany Lions vs. #1 Ohio State Buckeyes, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 3:30 pm Eastern, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Ohio State -10
Current Line: Ohio State -9.5
Opening Total: 128
Current Total: 126.5
Money Line: Ohio State -600 / Penn State +450
It is no surprise to see the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes (31-2) back in the Big Ten Conference championship game on Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse to defend their tournament crown. But their opponent is a bit of a shocker considering who the sixth-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions (18-13) defeated on the way to the title game and how they beat them.
Penn State was an underdog in its last two Big Ten tournament games, knocking out #3 Wisconsin on Friday in the quarterfinals and #7 Michigan State on Saturday in the semifinals. The Nittany Lions beat the Badgers 36-33 in the lowest-scoring game of the tourney and then turned around and routed the Spartans 61-48 thanks to a strong second half.
Michigan State appeared to be on a mission after crushing #2 Purdue 74-56 in the quarterfinals on Friday, but Penn State got a huge performance from Talor Battle, who had become the school’s all-time leading scorer the day before despite a dismal shooting performance. Battle made just 3 of 18 shots against Wisconsin and totaled nine points, but he scored 17 of his 25 points against the Spartans after halftime and connected on 6 of 11 attempts from 3-point range.
The Nittany Lions should have done enough to get into the NCAA tournament over the last two days while Ohio State (-9.5) has all but locked up a top seed in the Big Dance. The Buckeyes played slightly better in a 68-61 win over #4 Michigan on Saturday in the semifinals, although they failed to cover the spread for the second time in as many games.
Ohio State struggled in the quarterfinals on Thursday against Northwestern, needing overtime to fend off the pesky Wildcats in a 67-61 victory. The Buckeyes shot just 32.2 percent from the field in that game but bounced back by converting 46.3 against the Wolverines. Jared Sullinger and Jon Diebler made only 6 of 22 shots against Northwestern but connected on 11 of 25 against Michigan. Now they face their toughest defensive test of the tournament.
Surprisingly, the OVER has cashed in the last five meetings between Ohio State and Penn State. The Buckeyes won all five meetings straight-up, going 3-2 against the spread. The Nittany Lions are 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games overall and did not score more than 66 points in any of them. The OVER is 7-2-1 in Ohio State’s last 10 games overall, and the team routed #6 Minnesota 90-61 in last year’s championship game.
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