Ohio State Basketball: Can Buckeyes hang with the hot Bulldogs?

Ohio State will be an underdog tonight, especially since losing big to Gonzaga earlier in the season, but some things have changed since then.

Ohio State will have quite a challenge having to defeat Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The Buckeyes lost by 27 points earlier in the season to the Bulldogs who are one of the hottest teams in the country.

The improvement the Ohio State basketball team has made since the loss November 24th would indicate the game versus Gonzaga could go either way this time. However, some things haven’t changed, so could it be more of the same?

Early in the season the Buckeye players were just trying to find their way in first year coach Chris Holtmann’s system. Now, each of them understands their individual role.

Keita Bates-Diop was working his way back from the injury he suffered last season and the Bulldogs pretty much shut him down. Nobody has been able to do that since and KBD went on to being named the Big Ten Player of the Year.

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The Ohio State guard situation was in a flux early on. Now C.J. Jackson and Kam Williams are playing at a high level and Andrew Dakich has surprised everyone with his performance and leadership all season.

Freshman Kaleb Wesson was just getting his feet wet in the first game against Gonzaga but has performed well since. And center Micah Potter is healthy this time around.

Now let’s look at what could be bad news for the Buckeyes.

In the first meeting Gonzaga was coming into the game on a roll. The Bulldogs were coming off a great season and were 3-0. They turned things up a notch late in the season and have now won 15 games in a row and 21 of 22.

Also, three of the Bulldogs’ five leading scorers ate 6 foot 8 or taller, Johnathan Williams (13.7 ppg), Killian Tittle (13.1 ppg) and Rul Hachimura (11.1 ppg). Big guys who can score have given the Buckeyes fits of late.

Next: UMBC's win over Virginia a case for an 8-team CFP

While they will the underdog versus the Bulldogs, there are a couple of things to give the Buckeye players hope they can pull out a win. Gonzaga narrowly defeated 13 seed UNC Greensboro 68-64 Thursday. And it is March Madness and anything can happen.