What the the Ohio State men’s basketball team thought it left in Iowa City might make the eastward drive to Chicago.
In earning the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and the double bye that comes with it, the Buckeyes reeled off three straight wins to close the regular season with momentum. Now, when they open Big Ten Tournament play in Chicago on March 12, their first game will be against the team that helped set this surge in motion.
By virtue of a 75-64 win against No. 17 seed Maryland on March 11, Iowa advanced to face the Buckeyes for the second time in roughly two weeks. That first meeting didn’t go so well for Ohio State, which took a 74-57 loss in Iowa City on Feb. 25 and saw its NCAA Tournament hopes take a significant in the process.
After beating Indiana 91-78 on March 7 in the final game of the regular season, that loss to the Hawkeyes came up multiple times in postgame interviews.
“We took ownership of the things we did wrong in that game,” coach Jake Diebler said after beating Indiana. “We talked about it in the locker room at Iowa and said we’re going to leave this here. We’re not doing this again.
“We went around the room. Some words were said and then we left it there. We moved on. We left it there.”
That’s the style of coaching Diebler said this Ohio State team has responded to throughout the season. Diebler speaks often about coaching in truth, holding players accountable and remaining focused on the next task regardless of how well or poorly a particular game has gone.
Those ideas aren’t particularly revolutionary, but as the Buckeyes have played themselves into the NCAA Tournament before taking the floor in their conference tournament, that style of growth has taken root. Senior guard Bruce Thornton, who set the school’s all-time men’s basketball scoring record while playing in his final home game, said he feels the Buckeyes can make a deep run in both tournaments because of the “type of mojo, confidence and swagger we have.”
The loss to the Hawkeyes brought some of that out, he said.
“How we got blown out against Iowa, it’s so easy to fold and point fingers,” he said. “I feel like we came together and bought in. We want to go out with a bang.”
At Iowa, Ohio State jumped out to a 14-2 lead but quickly lost control of the game. It eventually added up to a 31-4 run for the Hawkeyes in what proved to be the third-worst adjusted defensive efficiency rating of the season for the Buckeyes, who allowed Iowa to score 126.4 points per 100 possessions. The Hawkeyes shot 75.9% from two-point range, tied for the third-worst mark allowed by Ohio State since the start of the 1996-97 season according to KenPom.com.
Iowa led by double digits for the final 23:18. Ohio State’s 57 points are the fewest it scored in a game this season, and its 37.9% shooting percentage from two-point range was its lowest of the year.
After the game, the door to Ohio State’s locker room remained closed for nearly 30 minutes as the players and coaches hashed out what had just transpired while losing consecutive games for the first time all season.
“That moment was do or die,” Thornton said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys who aren’t quitters. We don’t quit regardless of the situation. Guys in the locker room, we all have one goal, to try and be better.”
With a second shot now against the Hawkeyes, Diebler said Thornton’s point is what the Buckeyes will focus on rather than a shot at revenge.
“I don’t know that you can manufacture any more motivation than we already have playing in the Big Ten Tournament,” he said. “We certainly remember that game and we’ll … reference it from the standpoint of, these are the things we didn’t do well enough that we’ve got to do better. This team doesn’t need any extra motivation.”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at [email protected], on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
