Ohio State basketball’s chances at Big Ten title almost gone

The Ohio State basketball team lost their first game of the season at home on Saturday when they lost to Iowa by 13 points. In that game, it never seemed like they were going to win in the second half. It was a disappointing second half for the Buckeyes that may have ended a run for a Big Ten title.

If the Buckeyes were going to win the Big Ten championship, they were going to have to win most of their home games. While they are not mathematically out of it, losing this game hurts them for sure. They still have to play at Illinois and they still play Michigan State as well.

Both of those games are against ranked opponents. Neither of them will be easy games to win. Prior to this game, the Ohio State basketball team had shown the ability to defend homecourt against anyone that would walk in. Now that they’ve lost this one, they may lose more at home.

Ohio State only scored 24 points in the second half against Iowa. The lack of offense from them has happened time and time again against some of these better teams down the stretch. That’s why I’m not confident that the Buckeyes still have a chance to win a conference championship.

If the Buckeyes were still able to come back and win a Big Ten title, then Chris Holtmann deserves an extension immediately. In order for them to win the conference championship, they will likely have to win the rest of their games. That would mean Holtmann would have fixed this team’s half-court offensive issues.

Until they get those issues sorted out, Ohio State will continue to lose to some of the better teams left on their schedule and whoever they play in the NCAA Tournament.