Ohio State basketball chokes in double-overtime against Pitt

This one is going to be a tough pill to swallow for Ohio State basketball fans. The Buckeyes had this game won a few different times and still found a way to lose it. Jake Diebler, in particular, will have a lot of blame on his shoulders for his late-game coaching in the 91-90 loss to Pitt.

Let's start with the end of the game. Ohio State was up four with six seconds left. Evan Mahaffey fouls a three-point shooter. Pitt proceeds to make all three free throws. That makes them down just one. Then, Devin Royal only hits one of two free throws, allowing Pitt to make a three at the buzzer to win the game.

Diebler is at fault for allowing the Buckeyes to lose this game. He has to tell his guys to be more situationally aware. Under no circumstances can the Buckeyes be fouling a three-point shooter at the end of the game. Mahaffey should know better too with all of the basketball he's played.

The Ohio State basketball team needs better late-game coaching

While Mahaffey shouldn't have committed that foul, Ohio State needs better late-game coaching from Diebler as well. He's still very new at this, so this could end up being a good teaching moment for him. Now, he knows what he needs to emphasize in late-game scenarios like this.

Losing this kind of game at home definitely hurts. It would have given Ohio State a nice resume-boosting out-of-conference win. Instead, they give one of those to Pitt. Free throw shooting clearly needs to be something they work on as well. If they make their free throws, none of this matters.

Ohio State is still in a better spot than they were a year ago. They are still a talented team that can win a lot of games this year. This is a good learning moment for them.