Ohio State Clinches No. 10 Seed in Big Ten Tournament
After winning five of its last six games under interim head coach Jake Diebler, Ohio State clinched the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
The Buckeyes had a solid start to the season, but similarly to last year, they struggled in conference play. Despite starting off the calendar year on a high note with a win over Rutgers on Jan. 3, Ohio State dropped eight of its next nine games before the program let go of seventh-year head coach Chris Holtmann.
Holtmann's squad found trouble finishing down the stretch in many of their close games in that stretch, in what Holtmann said a lack of experience could have been an issue. Led by sophomore guard Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr. and senior transfer Jamison Battle, there weren't a lot of guys who played with the Buckeyes for long.
Since that losing streak, however, it almost seemed the Buckeyes had nothing to lose — upsetting then-No. 2 Purdue and finishing the regular season on a four-game win streak.
The aforementioned trio averaged 44.6 points of the team's 74.5 per game this season — while Ohio State didn't find much difficulty in scoring, they found it tough to stop the ball, especially against shifty, three-level scorers.
The Buckeyes can hope to contain their kryptonite Thursday when they take on junior forward Payton Sandfort, senior guard Tony Perkins and Iowa (18-13, 10-10 Big Ten) in the second round of the tournament. In their two-point win over Ohio State, the duo combined for 35 points and 10 rebounds on 52 percent shooting.
As the 10 seed, Ohio State will play No. 7 seeded Iowa on Thursday at 6:30 p.m., streaming on Big Ten Network.
