Ohio State is ranked #12 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, and are riding a six game win streak into tomorrow's contest. The Bucks have won nine out of their last ten as well, with the lone loss coming out of conference at West Virginia.
A win tomorrow night would put the Buckeyes at 11-3 in the Big 10 with four games left to play in the regular season. OSU currently sits a half game out of first place in the conference, behind #11 Michigan State.
OSU is one of the hottest teams in the country, and some analysts believe that if Evan Turner wouldn't have gotten injured in early December, the Bucks would be a top five team in the country. (OSU went 4-3 before Turner returned to 100%)
The Bucks have been flat out destroying teams, winning their last six games by an average of fourteen points.
Tomorrow night's contest fairs to be a little more competitive. Purdue is the highest ranked of all the Big 10 teams at #4 in the country. They're 9-3 in the Big 10 and are tied with both OSU and Michigan State in the loss column of the standings.
E'Twaun Moore leads the Boilermakers in scoring at 17.3 ppg. Center JaJuan Johnson averages over 14 a game and poses serious match-up problems at 6'10. The Junior can step out and knock down the outside shot as well as having a very solid inside game.
But the game will most certainly come down to the two potential All American's, Evan Turner and Robbie Hummel.
In the teams previous meeting, Hummel exploded in the first half of the game, setting a school record for three pointers made. But Turner got the best of him in the second half, finishing with 32 points, 23 of which came in the second half.
The two will probably be matched up against each other for most of the game, and whichever one can get the best of the other will win this game.
A game of this magnitude is going to come down to the superstars, which is why I like the Bucks to defeat the Boilermakers.
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