Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Michigan Wolverines: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/5/2023

Time: 1 p.m. ET

Venue: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MI

Where to watch: CBS

DraftKings: Michigan -4

FanDuel: Michigan -3.5

BetMGM: Michigan -4.5

Caesars: Michigan -4

Ohio State: 11-11 (3-8 Big Ten)

Michigan: 12-10 (6-5 Big Ten)

February is here and the college basketball season is taking full shape. Conference races still to be determined, the top 25 completely in shambles for what seems like every week, and there's bound to be an upset what seems like every single week. But as the season continues to progress with what seems like exciting action every week, you know our champion handicappers continue to put the work in each and every week to not only make money for them, but to ensure you get money in your pocket. All you need to do is look at the last 30 days. Scott Rickenbach has reeled in a net profit of $14,000 with a 24-9-0 run on the college hardwood. Team Del Genio has killed it with a 13-1-0 run at +$11,900. Will Rogers (28-15-0) and Matt Fargo (40-27-0) have also seen five figures over the last 30 days with college basketball. Surely, you want to get on this winning as well. All you need to do is go to bigal.com, check out our Best Bets page and make sure you are following along on the action. March will be here before you know it! Take advantage of our best best plays and find out what our champion handicappers are doing at bigal.com!

Ohio State: lost 65-60 vs. Wisconsin

Michigan: won 68-51 at Northwestern

It is quite odd if you think about it that we are here in early February and we have reduced ourselves to knowing that it's going to be a very slow sports day because football season is almost over. And here we are in the first week of February and CBS is being the national televised source for what might be the worst big 10 game of the season and I'm almost pretty confident that any game between Ohio State and Michigan has never felt more meaningless than it does this Sunday.

 

Because let's just take a look at the records for both of these programs. Michigan is coming into this game losers of three of their last five and are 12-10 on the season but somehow 6-5 in conference play. Now I want you to think about that conference for just a split second because we know that the Purdue Boilermakers, who are about to lose their grip on the number one spot in the country after losing to Indiana, are the top team in the conference. That's fine. Michigan is somehow four games back of Purdue for the top of the conference and I know that it is blasphemous to think Michigan will catch Purdue while having to leap frog from Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, and even northwestern, but the fact that it is so close for them is mind boggling.

 

We don't even need to look in the stats. We don't even need to look at the overall meaning of this game as it pertains to the Big Ten. We don't need to look at anything other than the fact that Michigan has been his bad and abysmal as one could have possibly imagine. this is a team that really should not have made it as far in the NCAA tournament as they did last year, but the Wolverines did. And I'm not entirely sure how much more of a thread coach juwan Howard has on this team but it is slowly slipping away rather quickly. There's only so many games you can trust a tall white guy who plays Center for you to carry your team. Purdue may find that out rather quickly, but Michigan is slowly starting to realize there is no talent around hunter Dickinson that says that they can win this game.

 

But then they play a team like Ohio State, another disappointing program who has gone 11-11 on the season and 3-8 in big 10 play. How in the world did we even get to this point? Ohio State was considered one of the challengers in the big 10 last year and suddenly they lose a couple of key seniors and everything starts going haywire for this program. They are seven games back of Purdue. They are not catching Purdue. They might not even catch Michigan even if they win this game because they would be so far behind Michigan with X amount of games to play in the big 10 that I don't see them even passing the likes of Wisconsin, or Michigan State. And that whole situation with Michigan State is its entirely different story.

 

Ohio State is coming into this game having lost three in a row with the latest loss coming against Wisconsin. What a time to be alive. Ohio State cannot beat anybody in front of them except for Iowa and that doesn't even really count. Michigan is laying four points in this game by essentially default and the fact that we are here talking about this game watching it on CBS because there is no more football is truly a major dud on the part of CBS and part of the big 10 conference.

 

They're going to treat this game like it is the most important rivalry game that there can be because that's how they're going to build it up. They are going to be in the Crisler Center on Sunday and realize that this game should have just moved to the big 10 network. Or ESPN plus. Michigan 74, Ohio State 68

Ohio State is 1-6 ATS on the road this season.

Ohio State is 1-9 ATS after a conference game this season.

Michigan is 20-18 ATS at home the past 3 seasons.

PG: Bruce Thornton

SG: Sean McNeil

SF: Justice Sueing

PF: Brice Sensabaugh

C: Zed Key

PG: Dug McDaniel

SG: Kobe Bufkin

SF: Jett Howard

PF: Terrance Williams II

C: Hunter Dickinson

Points: Brice Sensabaugh -- 17.4

Rebounds: Zed Key -- 7.7

Assists: Isaac Likekele -- 2.9

Points: Hunter Dickinson -- 17.7

Rebounds: Hunter Dickinson -- 8.3

Assists: Dug McDaniel -- 3.8