Ohio State isn’t going to make a big deal of playing in a cozy arena against the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday instead of a dome, but there’s a reason Buckeye staff dug into the team’s numbers at Lucas Oil Stadium two years ago.

The Columbus Dispatch had an interesting story this week about how the Buckeyes have shot in domes in comparison to stadiums. The Buckeyes will be at the Prudential Center as 5.5-point favorites against Kentucky.

The piece cites that in two games at the Lucas Oil Stadium on the same day shooters were a combined 3 of 25 from downtown, adding a little weight to a common theory that shooters have a more difficult time draining buckets in domed stadiums. This year of course, Ohio State is money from outside, hitting better than 42 percent of its trey attempts.

When OSU coach Thad Matta was asked what he was looking forward to about Friday’s game he replied “the fact that we’re in an arena, I guess I like that.”

Of course, he then qualified that with typical coach-speak saying “it’s the same. “I don’t make a big deal out of it. The baskets are still 10 feet high.”

But there’s no denying that OSU struggled at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis two years ago, going 9 of 23 from downtown while missing nine of their 12 trey attempts in the second half.

Whether playing at the Prudential Center will make any difference this time around for Ohio State is anyone’s guess, but at least we won’t have to wait long to find out.

Oddsmakers have the total for this matchup at 140 points.