Ohio State Defeats Rutgers, Ends Regular Season with Four-Game Win Streak
The Ohio State Buckeyes have officially made something out of nothing.
Things were looking bleak for the Buckeyes throughout the majority of this season, highlighted by a 17-game losing streak in road contests that stretched back to the past year.
However, Ohio State began to turn things around following the dismissal of coach Chris Holtmann and the promotion of assistant Jake Diebler to interim head coach.
The Buckeyes earned a 73-51 win against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday afternoon. This triumph capped off the regular season with Ohio State's second victory of the season playing away from home.
Three sophomores led the way for the Buckeyes against the Scarlet Knights, including the game's leading scorer, guard Roddy Gayle Jr. (14 points). Center Felix Okpara hauled down eight rebounds to record the most of either team in the contest, while guard Bruce Thornton dished out six assists over his 34 minutes on the floor (also a game-high).
Even more impressive for the Scarlet and Gray is that they held a lead for the entirety of the game, never once falling behind Rutgers on the scoreboard.
Ohio State has now won five of its last six games entering the Big Ten Tournament this coming week, including each of the last four contests. The undisputed best moment of that recent success was an upset victory over the then-No. 2 Purdue Boilermakers back on Sunday, February 18 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio State concludes the regular-season campaign with a 19-12 overall record. This solid clip makes it hard to believe that the Buckeyes were ever in danger of missing out on a winning percentage north of .500.
The Buckeyes currently hold ninth place in the Big Ten standings, meaning their first taste of tournament action would come in the second round on Thursday, March 14. Ohio State would battle the Big Ten's No. 9 seed: the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
That projection is currently unofficial. The actual bracket for the annual event should be announced sometime early this week.
