Ohio State men’s basketball heads into season opener as 16.5-point favorites over Akron

Folks, believe it or not, but tomorrow marks the start of men’s basketball season, as your No. 17 Ohio State men’s basketball Buckeyes will tip off their 2021-22 season on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. ET as they welcome the Akron Zips to the Value City Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and as Chris Holtmann’s team looks to officially turn the page on the demoralizing loss to 15-seed Oral Roberts from last season’s NCAA Tournament, they will enter the game against their in-state foes as 16.5-point favorites, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. The moneyline has OSU at -1375, while the Zips are at +800.

Akron finished the 2020-21 season 15-8 overall and lost in overtime to Buffalo 81-74 in the semifinals of MAC Tournament. We will have much more on the game tomorrow in our game preview, but I wanted to run through the game-specific odds on their own. In addition tot he point-spread, the DraftKings oddsmakers have set the collective point total at 145. The over is coming in at +100, while the under is -120.

Ohio State will have a distinct home court advantage as they have won 24 of their last 30 games at the Schottenstein Center. Hopefully the Buckeyes won’t need the energy of the Nut House to push them over the edge in terms of an outright win, but the Buckeye faithful could very well be a benefit in trying to win by 17 or more.

What do you think? Does this reconfigured Buckeye basketball team have enough to cover against Akron? Let us know what you think in the comments below.