The set-up The Ohio State Buckeyes were picked to finish 11th in the preseason Big Ten poll. However, first-year head coach Chris Holtmann (via Butler) saw his team end a two-game skid with a 79-52 victory against Rutgers on Tuesday. Ohio State now has a chance to grab a share of their first conference title since 2012 if they are able to beat the Indiana Hoosiers tonight and No.2 Michigan State falls to Wisconsin on Sunday. Ohio State was just 17-15 last season (7-11 in Big Ten) but the Buckeyes are currently No. 16 in the AP poll with a 23-7 record (14-3 in Big Ten). Ohio State cruised past Indiana 71-56 in the first meeting back on Jan. 30 in Columbus and cnow have a chance to sweep the season series for the first time since 2010-11. Indiana's chances of earning a postseason bid took a big hit following a 66-57 setback to Nebraska on Tuesday. The Hoosiers had won four consecutive games, including two straight at home by double digits, before being held to their lowest point total in nearly a month. The Hoosiers are 16-13 overall, including 9-8 in the Big Ten. A victory here would give them 10 conference wins for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

Ohio State: The Buckeyes own a strong frontcourt led by the 6-7 Bates-Diop (19.0 & 8.7). He's joined up front by SF Tate (12.6 & 6.2) and 6-9 freshman Wesson (11.0 & 5.2), with PG Jackson (12.4-3.8-3.9) running the show in the backcourt. C.J. Jackson led the way with 18 points in the bounce-back win vs. Rutgers,while Kaleb Wesson added 14 on 6-of-7 shooting. Guard Kam Williams (7.9) scored 13 points in his final collegiate home game while fellow senior Jae'Sean Tate contributed nine points and 10 rebounds. Big Ten Player of the Year candidate Keita Bates-Diop was held to six points on 3-of-11 shooting against the Scarlet Knights and is a troubling 12-of-39 (30.8%) from the floor over his last three games. The Buckeyes are an efficient offensive team (48.8% shooting ranks 23rd) and a strong defensive one, allowing 66.2 PPG (39th) on 41.5% shooting (48th).

Indiana: The Hoosiers also have a first-year head coach in Archie Miller (via Dayton) and he knows he will need his team to be extremely dialed in to play a team that is trying to win a league championship. Justin Smith (just 6.2 PPG on the season) continued his stellar play down the stretch as he scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds vs. Nebraska, but the Hoosiers were undone by 19 turnovers. Senior guard Robert Johnson added 16 points and six rebounds against the Cornhuskers. while 6-8 junior Juwan Morgan had13 points and nine boards. Morgan (16.5 & 7.3) and Johnson (14.0 & 4.6) are the only two Hoosiers in double digits on the season. The Hoosiers average a modest 71.8 PPG, which ranks 236th.

The pick: Ohio State is sniffing a Big Ten regular season title but the Buckeyes come in having lost their last two road games by an average margin of 17.5 PPG. Indiana will have a "packed house" for this bitter rival and would like nothing more than to play spoiler, plus 10 league wins would be a nice bonus for Miller in his first season in the Big Ten. Indiana has won four of the last five home meetings with Ohio State and while I'm not 100% behind the Hoosiers, I do see a high scoring game, which gives me a 10* play on the Over.