Was Ohio State basketball vs Oral Roberts the worst loss in school history?

The Ohio State basketball team may have just suffered the worst and most embarrassing loss in school history.

The second-seeded Buckeyes went into the game as 15.5 point favorites against the fifteenth seeded Oral Roberts Golden Eagles.

The game was a perfect equation of everything that could have possibly gone wrong did for Ohio State. Along with this, Oral Roberts was a sneakily good fifteen seed and has one of the most dangerous offenses in the NCAA.

This game went to overtime and Ohio State had their chances to close the game in regulation and in overtime, however, they were unable to get the job done when it mattered most.

The final score was 75-72 in favor of the Golden Eagles. This is only the ninth time in NCAA tournament history that a fifteenth seed has been able to get the best of a second seed.

With this loss coming after a very impressive run in the Big Ten tournament for Ohio State, the season will leave Ohio State basketball fans and players alike with a sour taste in their mouth after what has been a very successful season.

There were a few key things that the Buckeyes allowed to happen that led to them eventually being apart of the biggest upset in the tournament this season.

The first is the atrocious shooting from the Buckeyes. The team shot an atrocious 5/23 from three including two misses from deep that came in the final seconds of overtime. Along with this, the Buckeyes were a sickening 9/18 from the free-throw line. If they were able to convert their free throws late in regulation or even in overtime, they would have easily been able to seal the game.

The second major facet of the game that led to a Buckeye loss was the turnover differential. At times the Buckeyes did not even look like themselves and played a sloppy style of basketball that you would not expect on the first day of summer practices.

These turnovers were increasingly disheartening for the team when taking into account that Oral Roberts is one of the worst defenses in all of college basketball. On the other end of the floor, the Buckeyes did not force the Golden Eagles to make the same careless mistakes that they did. This led to the turnover differential being 16-6 in favor of Oral Roberts.

In a game that came down to one or two possessions, it is likely that if Ohio State was able to force more turnover from the Golden Eagles or limit some of their own costly mistakes, the Buckeyes would be facing off against the Florida Gators in the round of 32.

The final thing that lost the Buckeyes the game was allowing two players to beat them. In the scouting report of Oral Roberts written before the game, it was highlighted that Max Abmas and Kevin Obanor were big scoring threats that the Buckeyes should keep their eyes on and cater their defense to stopping.

The Buckeyes allowed the duo to tear them apart. Abmas finished the game with 29 points and 5 rebounds while Obanor finished the contest with 30 points and 11 rebounds. No other player on the Golden Eagles cracked double-digits in points.

Ohio State basketball had no answers for the two and Oral Roberts got pretty much anything that they wanted on the Buckeye defense. As a result of this, Ohio State suffered the worst and most embarrassing loss in the school’s long and decorated history.