Coming into the Big Ten Tournament, the Ohio State basketball team felt good about its NCAA Tournament resume. After winning their final three games down the stretch, it was widely assumed that they had done enough to make the Big Dance for the first time in four years.
Still, a win in the Big Ten Tournament would seal it. After Iowa took down Maryland on Wednesday, the Buckeyes took on the Hawkeyes on Thursday. In the last meeting between these two teams, the Ohio State Buckeyes got smoked in Iowa City. Thursday's game played out much differently.
Ohio State took a four-point lead into the locker room at halftime, and they ended up taking a lead as big as 16 in the second half. Yet, the Buckeyes almost collapsed as they have several times this year. Iowa had a shot to send it to overtime on a last-second shot, but they missed. Ohio State won 72-69.
Ohio State basketball has tough task vs Michigan
Bruce Thornton had 24 points on 10/14 shooting against the Hawkeyes. He was the leader that Ohio State needed in this game. Now, he has an even tougher task on Friday afternoon. The Buckeyes have earned the right to take on TTUN, which is the number-one seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State already has two losses to the Wolverines this year. The good news is that a loss to TTUN won't hurt their NCAA Tourney resume. If the Buckeyes lose, they should still be solidly in the field after beating Iowa. If they somehow win, they could suddenly move up as far as a seven-seed.
In the month of March, a win is a win. Still, the Buckeyes would have loved to close this one out a little cleaner. A win over TTUN would be a great cap to the last few weeks of play for Jake Diebler's squad.