Ohio State Basketball: Looking for Big Ten momentum

The Ohio State basketball team has a chance to grab momentum heading into the 2nd half of the Big Ten schedule after a win over the Indiana Hoosiers.

At one point in December the Ohio State basketball team was ranked the No. 2 team in the country.  Then the Buckeyes went through a tough stretch in January.

Now, as we move into a new month and the stretch run of the regular season the Buckeyes have some work to do.  That work has a good start as they have won back to back conference games with the most recent one this past Saturday at home against the Indiana Hoosiers as the Buckeyes won 68-59.

On Tuesday, Ohio State goes on the road to Ann Arbor to face Big Ten foe and rival Michigan.  The Buckeyes enter the game 14-7 and 4-6 in conference play.  The Wolverines enter Tuesday’s game 13-8 and are also 4-6 in conference play.

Both of these teams look to get to a three game winning streak in Big Ten play to gain some momentum heading into the final stretch of the season.

Looking ahead, the Buckeyes have another tough stretch of basketball this month starting with the game in Ann Arbor.  Ohio State will then have to head to Wisconsin, play at home against #25 Rutgers, face a pesky Purdue team, at #18 Iowa, home vs #15 Maryland, and then finish up February at Nebraska.

If the Buckeyes hit their second half stride now it would be huge moving into this part of the schedule.

Let’s stay focused with one game at a time looking at this week’s game against that team up north.  Anytime you head on the road to a hostile environment you want to make sure you limit your turnovers and win that ever so important turnover battle.

It will also be imortant for Ohio State to score by moving the ball around like in the first half of the Indiana game. The Buckeyes also followed that up by playing edge to edge team defense and held the Hoosiers to just 22 first half points.

Winning the battle of the boards is also important, but on the road you really want to win the defensive rebounding battle.  Ohio State can’t give Michigan second chance possessions, and second chance points.

Every one of these things are needed for the Buckeyes when they go on the road to keep fans quiet and in their seats. Then they may come away with a three game Big Ten winning streak. And momentum as they start looking ahead to March.