Ohio State basketball demolishes Rutgers to keep NCAA Tournament hopes alive
Ever since the Ohio State basketball program fired Chris Holtmann, they have been playing excellent basketball. That continued with a win on the road against Rutgers.
By Ryan Stano
The Ohio State basketball team has shown that they are a much better team when Chris Holtmann doesn't coach them. Heading into their matchup on Sunday against Rutgers, they were 4-1 since Jake Diebler took over as the interim head coach, even finally winning a road game.
The matchup against Rutgers gave the Buckeyes an opportunity to win just their second road game in the last 14 months. The Scarlet Knights actually had a worse Big Ten record than Ohio State. They sat at 7-12 while the Buckeyes were 8-11. Ohio made sure they weren't going to be tied after the game was over.
Ohio State demolished Rutgers 73-51 in a game that got out of hand in the final ten minutes of the game. After scoring just 32 points in the first half, they exploded in the second half. Part of the reason why is that they stopped turning it over as much. The Buckeyes had 10 of them in the first half.
It was a balanced effort for the Buckeyes as far as the scoring is concerned. Four Ohio State basketball players scored in double-figures, all of them from the starting lineup. It's the kind of effort they are going to need in the Big Ten Tournament if they want to win some games to solidify a spot in March Madness.
With this win, the Buckeyes now will play on Thursday instead of Wednesday. It gives them a better chance for some resume-boosting wins as well. While the final seeds haven't been figured out yet, they very well could end up with another chance to beat Purdue if they can win their first game of the Tourney.
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Another win over the Boilermakers would all but secure them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. They just have to keep the good vibes rolling.