The Ohio State basketball team has a problem winning close games. They have a ton of close losses that might come back to haunt them. Now, because of those losses, the Buckeyes are in trouble. They are firmly on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament. Now, they have to win out.
They only have two games left, one of them being Senior Night on Tuesday. They will take on Nebraska in a game that they absolutely have to have. If they don't win this game, they can kiss their chances of making the NCAA Tournament goodbye, barring a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament.
Nebraska comes into this game on a similar slide to the Ohio State Buckeyes. They have lost three of their last four games. They are trying to make sure that they make the Big Ten Tournament. Ohio State likely has that spot sewn up, but that's not 100% guaranteed, either.
The Ohio State basketball team must beat Nebraska on Tuesday night
Ohio State has also lost three of their last four games. They have to make sure that they win this home game before finishing out the season at Indiana. That final game of the year could end up being a game to decide who gets an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
The Buckeyes certainly can win this game. If they are able to hit their threes and rebound better than they have in their last five games, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to win. Ohio State is the more talented team, but that hasn't mattered much for them so far.
Diebler needs to find a way to get through to his team. It would be a disaster if this team fell out of an NCAA Tournament bid with a late-season slide. It wouldn't be good for Diebler's first season as a head coach. That's why he needs to win this game so badly.