I hate to do this now in the middle of January, but tonight’s matchup with the Indiana Hoosiers is a must-win for the Ohio State basketball team.
The Buckeyes are 1-3 since the start of January, and it easily could’ve been 0-4 if they didn’t escape Minnesota with a double-overtime win. This start to Big Ten play is eerily similar to when Holtmann was on the sidelines with the January slides. However, there is still a different feel to it as they’ve been in every game just haven’t been able to execute down the stretch.
We knew coming into it that this stretch would be tough for the Ohio State basketball team. Taking on Michigan State, Oregon, and then Wisconsin and Purdue each on the road in a six-game stretch is not easy by any means.
Of course, you want to win these games as they are signature, resume-boosting wins that could help lock up a spot in the NCAA Tournament. That unfortunately hasn’t been the case, but the losses have all been close.
In the losses to Michigan State, Oregon, and Wisconsin, Ohio State’s margin of defeat was by a combined 11 points. So, they are right there, just not fully executing in the last few minutes with stops on defense or good, clean sets for easy buckets to pull out the win.
Tonight is a great opportunity for the Ohio State basketball team to get back in the right direction before traveling to West Lafayette for that matchup with Purdue in Mackey Arena. The Hoosiers have not been playing great basketball as of late. They’ve been blitzed by Iowa and Illinois in back-to-back games losing by a combined 50 points in both games.
The biggest challenge tonight for the Buckeyes will be on the inside. The play by Indiana’s Oumar Ballo has been big despite the Hoosiers’ losses with 10 points and 13 rebounds against Iowa, and 16 points and 15 boards against Illinois. He has also pulled down at least 12 rebounds in four of the last five games for the Hoosiers as well.
The frontcourt play for the Ohio State basketball team will have to be huge tonight in order to get the win. It’s getting to that point where they can’t afford many more losses, and a loss to Indiana tonight will really make securing an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament a lot tougher to achieve.
The game tonight will be televised on FOX, or you can listen on the radio at 97.1 The Fan. An 8:00 pm tip-off from the Schott for Ohio State and Indiana with the Buckeyes in desperate need of a big win.