The Daily basketball beat predicts Michigan-Ohio State

Michigan still hasn’t won or lost consecutive games since late January and heads to Columbus coming off a loss. Will that trend continue, or will the Wolverines finally lose two games in a row to significantly hamper their NCAA Tournament chances? Entering the weekend slate of games each week, The Daily’s basketball beat will predict the outcome of games across college basketball, tallying their records across the season. Here are their predictions:

Records:

Last Week, in this section, we said “When you fall behind in gambling, everybody knows the only solution is to double down and bet even more.” Well, turns out, that’s not true. As a beat, we went a horrific 25-43. Spencer was a respectable 8-9 and finally picked some Big Ten games right but still picked Michigan wrong. Nick picked the Michigan game right again. Jack and Josh dragged the beat down with 5-12 records, but Jack at least got the Michigan game right and Josh held onto his above .500 record. Entering our sixth week of predictions, here’s how we stand:

Last Week:

Cumulative:

Michigan at No. 23 Ohio State

Sunday March. 6 12:30 pm

Jack: Michigan

Michigan wins every other game so they’re going to win on Sunday. It’s an exact science.

Josh: Ohio State

I know the trend is for Michigan to win every other game, but to me, I don’t think the Wolverines pull this one out on the road. They struggled to stop E.J. Liddell in the first matchup and I don’t think they’ll have much more success this time around. The Buckeyes win and put Michigan’s tournament hopes on life support.

Nick: Michigan

Do I have much reason for this pick other than Michigan alternates wins and losses every other game? No, not really. But this is as “must-win” as any game the Wolverines have had all year. Michigan has to find a way to slow down Liddell and create dynamic offense on the other end. The game — and the Wolverines’ tournament chances — could easily slip away from them, but I just don’t think they let that happen. Give me a desperate Michigan over a comfortable Ohio State.

Spencer: Ohio State

I think Michigan has finally backed itself into a corner. After the loss to No. 24 Iowa, the Wolverines are in a tremendously tough spot. Last time these two teams met, Liddell had a field day. I see no reason why that won’t happen again. Ohio State will win and Michigan’s tournament hopes will be on its last legs.