Illinois is a -6 favorite hosting Ohio State Thursday.
Malaki Branham scored 27 points and No. 22 Ohio State rallied to beat Indiana 80-69 Monday night, but this had to be accomplished in overtime.
Indiana led by four with 2:47 to go in regulation, but E.J. Liddell forced a steal with 1:11 remaining and slammed home the tying dunk with six seconds left.
“We played as well as we could play it,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. “We lost our man Liddell at the rim. He was able to dunk it and send it to overtime. That’s probably the biggest possession of the game.”
Kofi Cockburn scored 27 points, Jacob Grandison had a season-high 24 and No. 12 Illinois held off No. 19 Michigan State 79-74 on Saturday.
Illinois (19-7, 12-4 Big Ten) moved ahead of No. 15 Wisconsin and into a first-place tie with No. 5 Purdue in the conference standings.
“That went about how I thought it would,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “I loved the fight and the grit, and that what I thought it took today.”
Illinois is 50-11 as a home favorite Straight Up since 2017. They have beaten Ohio State in the last two meetings, just not by more than the current spread either time.
Outside of one game in the last ten meetings, Ohio State has covered the current spread of 6. The home loss to the Hawkeyes by more than this number is still fresh in our minds but the two prior losses were within this number.
We will be on Ohio State +6 here
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
