Kansas Basketball Previews: Ohio State

School: Ohio State

Founded: 1870

Enrollment: 38, 479 undergrads

Famous alumni: R.L. Stine (Goosebumps author), Jack Buck (former broadcaster), Roy Plunkett (inventor of teflon)

Things they do well: Ohio State is obviously one of the best teams in the country. Most notably they excel in the turnover game. They are 10th in the country in terms of taking care of the ball (15.5% turnover rate) and they force turnovers at a rate of 29.2%, which is 4th in the country. That obviously poses some problems for KU's turnover happy guards, but on the other hand can they really turn it over more than they already have?

Offensively Ohio State is also really good at shooting from two, converting 56.4% of their two pointers. So they get to shoot a lot and make them. Great.

Defensively the Buckeyes are a great rebounding team, ranked third nationally. Jared Sullinger in particular is a phenomenal rebounder with a 30.8% defensive rebounding rate, which ranks 5th nationally.

Things they don't do well: I wanted to leave this blank just as a joke but fortunately one thing that should come as music to KU fans' ears (or eyes I guess) is that the Buckeyes struggle a bit from beyond the arc. They don't take a lot of threes (326th in 3PA/FGA) and they don't make a lot of them either (33.3%). They also shoot just 67% from the free throw line, so keep that in mind in a close game. Though I should point out that Sullinger shoots 83% and Craft shoots 72%.

Prediction: To be optimistic, the fact that Ohio State doesn't take many threes or shoot them well bodes well for us. They are very good at shooting twos but our two point defense has been great this year. The big key is going to be whether Withey and Robinson can stay out of foul trouble. Sullinger draws 6.6 fouls per 40 minutes, so if Kansas has to resort to Justin Wesley it could be a long night. Still I think it will be tougher for Craft and William Buford to get the types of looks they're used to. Obviously limiting the turnovers would be nice, but I'm not going into the game expecting it, and I think Kansas can still win despite turning it over a lot. And hey to look on the bright side if a miracle occurs and they don't turn it over much it will be that much easier to win the game.

KenPom has Ohio State winning 70-66 in 69 possessions, and at 63% to win. I'll take Ohio State 75-68 in 73 possessions.