Ohio State basketball finally ends the losing streak

It’s over! The Ohio State basketball team has finally won a game again. They had lost nine straight games heading into Sunday afternoon against Illinois. In fact, the Buckeyes were 4.5-point underdogs even though the game was at home at the Schott.

Behind another strong performance from Bruce Thornton, the Buckeyes were able to win the game 72-60. It was the first time in the last two months that the Buckeyes actually played with some sort of fire. They played with some gumption on both sides of the ball.

Thornton had 20 points on 8/11 shooting. He was the main focal point offensively, especially in the first half. He also ended up with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. This was an important game for him, especially as we get to the end of the season. He can build on this performance for next year.

Brice Sensabaugh and Justice Sueing each added 14 points as well for the Buckeyes’ best offensive performance in quite a while. There was a stretch during the losing streak when they struggled to even score 60 points. That wasn’t an issue today.

The Ohio State basketball team was able to play spoiler to Illinois. Illinois isn’t quite on the bubble, but a loss to this bad Ohio State team might put them there. That’s what the Buckeyes are going to be doing in their final two games against Maryland and Michigan State as well.

Chris Holtmann has to feel really good about this win. With all the noise surrounding the program and his job status, it has to feel nice to get a win and quiet some of that down for the time being. Things will be a little more positive surrounding the program for the next few days.

Next week is the final week of the regular season for the Buckeyes. Let’s see if they can get two more wins.