by The Ohio State men’s basketball team defeated Rutgers on Sunday afternoon to close out the 2023-24 regular season. The win was the Buckeyes’ fifth in their last six games and they will head into the Big Ten Tournament with a 19-12 overall record as well as a 9-11 record in conference play.
In what could be Interim Head Coach Jake Diebler’s final regular season game on the staff, the Buckeyes continued to build momentum as they rode a massive second half to a 73-51 victory. In the first half, Ohio State was able to jump out to a quick 8-0 lead behind buckets from Jamison Battle, Roddy Gayle Jr., and Felix Okpara, stunning the Scarlet Knights. However, Rutgers fought back and the Buckeyes held a slim 30-28 lead at halftime.
Thankfully for Diebler and Co., the second half was all Ohio State, as they outscored Rutgers 43-23 in that period. Gayle led the team in scoring with 14, with Bruce Thornton chipping in 11 and both Battle and Okpara in double figures as well with 10 apiece. A crucial aspect of the Buckeyes success in the second half was the effectiveness of the bench. The backup unit combined for 26 total points in the game and were led by Dale Bonner with nine and Devin Royal with six. Going forward, the Buckeyes must get production from their reserves, as it has been proven time and time again that no matter how good Thornton, Gayle, and Battle are, they must have some help if the offense is going to flow smoothly.
With the win, Diebler is now 5-1 as the interim coach of the program and is putting the Buckeyes in position to set themselves up for an NCAA Tournament bid with a strong showing in the Big Ten Tournament. Likely two victories will be needed to secure a berth for the big dance, and the first test will come against Iowa on Thursday.
Ohio State, who is seeded tenth for the Big Ten Tournament, has only faced seventh seeded Iowa once so far this season and the Hawkeyes were able to pull out a narrow 79-77 victory on their home floor. Despite the loss, the result was looked upon rather positively as the Buckeyes fought hard and almost snuck out with a win in a tough road environment. Battle, Okpara, Thornton, and Gayle were all in double figures and combined for six three-pointers in the contest.
Defensively, a major key for the Buckeyes in Thursday’s matchup will be shutting down Iowa’s leading scorer, Payton Sandfort. The sharpshooting Sandfort is averaging 16.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on 37% from three so far this season, along with recording the first triple-double in Iowa history in February. Sandfort’s recent success has put himself in contention to be a first-round draft pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft as well. If Ohio State can contain Sandfort and take the Hawkeyes’ other guards, Tony Perkins and Josh Dix (who has scored in double figures in each of his last four games), out of the game, the Buckeyes should be able to put themselves in a great position to get the victory. If they win, Ohio State will then face second seeded Illinois on Friday.
When preparing for the upcoming (and dare I say vitally important) Big Ten Tournament, Buckeye fans should think back to last year when a much worse Ohio State team went in as the #13 seed and proceeded to go on a shocking run, winning three games until they ran into a buzzsaw Purdue team in the semifinals. Purdue then went onto win the tournament and earn a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament where we all know what happened next (FDU!). Back to the Buckeyes, though, one team that they defeated in their magical run in last year’s tournament was, in fact, Iowa. In the game, Thornton led the team in scoring and Ohio State was able to do a great job containing a Hawkeyes team that ranked fourth in the country in offensive efficiency, per KenPom. While it is a tall task to win multiple games in the competitive Big Ten Tournament, last year’s Ohio State team proved that it is certainly achievable and will almost assuredly be necessary if the Buckeyes want to keep their season alive.
