The Ohio State basketball team heads into Ann Arbor this Friday to take on the third-ranked Michigan Wolverines. The Buckeyes are coming off back-to-back home wins against UCLA and Minnesota. They head into this battle with an overall record of 13-5 and a conference record of 5-3. An upset over their highly ranked archrival would give them all the momentum for the remainder of the season.
Over the last two games, Ohio State has been led offensively by the three-headed monster of Bruce Thornton, John Mobley Jr., and Devin Royal. Both Thornton and Mobley have put up at least 21 points apiece, while Royal added 22 and 16, respectively. The production out of their big three has been encouraging, to say the least. However, against a team as talented as Michigan, the Buckeyes are going to need their other pieces to step up.
Coach Jake Diebler was asked how his mindset will shift towards this big game. "It's this way, I would imagine in every single sport. This game means a little bit more." Diebler said. But we've got to prepare like we've been preparing. We can't get caught up on anything other than just being as mentally and physically prepared that we can possibly be."
A win for the Buckeyes would do wonders for their tournament chances. Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology currently has Ohio State as a last four team in. For most of the season, they have been stuck right on the edge as a bubble team. Winning a game of this magnitude would remove them from the bubble and place them comfortably in the field at this moment in time.
Ohio State is only 1-4 in their last five meetings against the Wolverines and have not won in Ann Arbor since February of 2022. This game will be the biggest for the team up to this point in the season. If the Bucks can figure out a way to pull off the upset, they would drastically increase their chances to make their first tournament appearance since 2022. And of course, nothing is sweeter than beating the team up north.