Illinois @ Ohio St. | 03/06 | 9:00 PM UTC
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ANALYSIS: Trap game for Illinois at Ohio State on Saturday? ... Join Sportsline here to see the full pick!
ANALYSIS: Trap game for Illinois at Ohio State on Saturday? ... Join Sportsline here to see the full pick!
ANALYSIS: Villanova takes court Saturday first time since losing star. ... Join Sportsline here to see the full pick!
ANALYSIS: The Blues are the better team and on a three-game winning streak, but they are down several key injured players and will go with backup Ville Husso in net. He deserved to lose Monday in allowing four goals to the Ducks, but his offense got him five. St. Louis might be a bit worn down playing a fourth straight away from home. The Kings have dropped three in a row but before that had won six straight and they split two in St. Louis earlier this season -- Husso allowed five goals in one of those. Solid underdog value here.
ANALYSIS: I frankly don't understand this spread at all. Colorado State is the better team and yet is getting a point? Remember, home-court advantage means little this year. Also, Nevada, while a good team, is expected to remain without forward Zane Meeks again due to injury. He is averaging 9.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game while shooting 47 percent from the field, including 35.8 percent from three. So, not a superstar but clearly important as Nevada is 1-4 this season when playing without Meeks. The Wolf Pack have their seeding locked up for next week's Mountain West Tournament, while CSU still has seeding reasons to care and can't afford any losses on the Big Dance bubble.
ANALYSIS: These teams played one of the more entertaining games of the year on Thursday, which the Lightning won with a second left in OT. Tampa Bay was down 2-0 at the start of the third. The Bolts used No. 1 netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has been absolutely brilliant this season. The Hawks are thus good value at this price in the second of a back-to-back because it's all but a lock the Lightning will go to backup Curtis McElhinney, who is solid but a major step down. In addition Tampa Bay likely will be without top-four defenseman Eric Cernak again. Chicago is 5-2 in its past seven as an underdog.