Last Updated on March 19, 2010 7:06 pm by drew
Ohio St.-UCSB Pick
Evan Turner leads his Ohio State Buckeyes against the UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos Friday night at 9:35PM ET in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
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These two teams will battle it out in the Midwest Region and the game will take place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ohio State is the No. 2 seed and UCSB is the No. 15 seed.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SPORTSBETTING.com have made Ohio State 17-point favorites over UC-Santa Barbara on Friday night. The over/under has been set at 132.
Ohio State is making its 27th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Buckeyes have played in four of the last five tournaments. The Buckeyes are 27-7 this season and 14-4 in the Big Ten Conference. OSU scores 74.2 points per-game, ranking 59th in the country, while giving up just 61.2 points per-game, which ranks 28th. Turner averages 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 5.9 assists for the Buckeyes. William Buford adds 14.5 points while Jon Diebler and David Lighty each score 12.7 points per-game.
UCSB is making its fourth event tournament appearance this year. The Gauchos are 20-9 overall and 12-4 in the Big West Conference, where it won the tournament title to get the automatic bid. UCSB scores 68.2 points per-game, which ranks 173rd in the country while giving up 65.7 points per-game, which ranks 95th in the country. Orlando Johnson averages 17.9 points per-game for the Gauchos while James Nunnally adds 15 points per-contest.
The Gauchos look to be outmatched in this game as Turner will be much more than they can handle and Turner has a lot of weapons that can step up if UCSB focuses on him. Look for Ohio State to win comfortably in a lower scoring game.
Our NCAA Tournament Free Pick for this matchup is: OHIO STATE -17 and UNDER 132
March Madness Betting Trends
Santa Barbara is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games
Santa Barbara is 13-6 ATS in its last 19 games
Ohio State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Ohio State’s last 7 games
March Madness Injury Report
OHIO ST
(!)[F] 03/17/2010 – Jon Diebler probable Friday vs. Cal Santa Barb ( Illness )
[G] 11/27/2009 – Walter Offutt left the team ( Personal )
UC-SANTA BARBARA
No Injuries Reported
March Madness Game Odds
Ohio State Buckeyes -17 Over 132
UC-Santa Barbara Gauchos +17 Under 132
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Posted: 3/19/10 7:06PM ET