The Buckeyes continued to play together Sunday in a win over Michigan, putting themselves in line for a Big Ten tournament bye and maybe, just maybe, in position to insert themselves into the March bubble conversation.
Columbus, OH – Jake Diebler’s experiences in the gym as the son of a coach taught him one thing above everything else. “I learned from my dad at a very young age that a basketball team really is a family,” he said.
Families are known for lots of things – good and bad – but in the end families find ways to stick together, carry each other’s burdens and move forward. That was the challenge for the Ohio State men’s basketball family when nine Big Ten losses in January and the first half of February threatened to tear them apart.
Then Chris Holtmann, the patriarch, was fired. And athletic director Gene Smith, the godfather charged with giving every OSU team the best chance to be successful, made Diebler the interim head coach. Diebler’s decision-making load grew, but he knew one thing had to be primary. His team – he could call it that now – had to be a family.
Through five games and four victories with Diebler in charge the Buckeyes are one big happy family. On Sunday in front of 16,606 in the Schott, Diebler’s family feasted like it was Thanksgiving on a moribund Michigan team with an 84-61 victory.
The turnaround under Diebler feels magical. The Buckeyes have won four out of five games, beat second-ranked Purdue, broke a 17-game road losing streak and beat The Team Up North for their third straight victory.
The last time the Buckeyes won three straight against Big Ten opponents was on their surprising run to the conference tournament semifinals last season. The last time they did it in the regular season was the first three conference games of the 2021-22 season against Penn State, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
Next Sunday the Buckeyes go to Rutgers looking to win a fourth straight Big Ten game for the first time since they won seven straight during the 2020-21 season. That winning streak helped carry the Buckeyes into the NCAA Tournament.
The current run offers no such guarantees, but suddenly the Buckeyes and March are a conversation worth having. Because of Nebraska’s victory Sunday over Rutgers, the Buckeyes (18-12, 8-11 Big Ten) will earn a first-round bye in the Big Ten tournament with a win at Rutgers.
A possible 19-12 regular season and a similar conference tournament run to last year could put the Buckeyes in Big Dance bubble conversations. To even utter those words didn’t seem possible after the Buckeyes lost Holtmann’s final game to drop to 14-11 and 4-10 in the Big Ten.
But you never give up on family. And, you stay in touch.
“People who played for my dad, probably before I was even born, he still talks to,” Diebler said. “And then the Valpo family that I have of former teammates and coaches that have reached out to me – basketball, it’s such a great game.”
For the Buckeyes, it was great that Bruce Thornton scored 17 points, Roddy Gayle Jr. scored 15 and Dale Bonner scored 10 on a day when Jamison Battle was limited to five shots and eight points. But the day was about far more than that to Diebler. It was about more than the victory or touting a 22-2 edge in fast-break points, which has been a point of emphasis under Diebler.
Diebler didn’t forget about the family ideal and did the good family thing on Senior Day by starting seniors Zed Key, Bonner and walk-on Owen Spencer along with usual senior starter Battle.
“The overall message was thank you for obviously coming here but also seeing this season through the way they have,” Diebler said.
Starting Spencer in a must-win portion of the season was an easy decision for Diebler. He watches Spencer go against Key and Felix Okpara every day in practice with little reward of playing time.
“He earned the right to start,” Diebler said. “His love for this program is real.”
So is Key’s. In the age of easy-to-do transfers, Key stayed when he could have sought more playing time and a more critical role elsewhere.
“Time has flown so fast,” Key said. “I’ve been through every senior night, and you never think that it’s going to be you until it is you. I really am grateful that I chose Ohio State. Love the program, and we got to just keep it going.”
Key had victory in mind when he scored eight of the Buckeyes’ first 21 points and finished with nine in 17 minutes on the court. But it was his drive-down-the-lane, soaring, one-handed dunk that put Michigan’s Will Tschetter on a poster for the Buckeyes’ first points that will go down in family history.
“Zed’s dunk, certainly, but also just how hard, and active he played, to start the game I thought was contagious and gave us a good boost,” Diebler said.
Key showed more family love when Thornton drove hard and one-hand dunked on Michigan center Tarris Reed Jr. for a matching poster to hang in the family room, otherwise known as the locker room. Key was on the bench at the time, and his joyous reaction sent him running toward the Michigan bench so much so that Diebler had to pull him back.
“Can’t do that – just go sit back down again,” is what Key said Diebler told him. “I didn’t realize how far I was.”
Diebler didn’t stay mad at Key, not on Senior Day, not on a day when you beat Michigan and not if you want to keep peace in the family. In fact, Diebler saw something in that moment he might use.
“Zed was well past me, and he was there quickly,” Diebler said. “So we’ll evaluate the film on that and see if we can utilize some of that speed in some ball-screen coverages.”
Thornton’s dunk put Ohio State up 25-21 and helped them build a 32-27 halftime lead. And it revealed a family inside joke.
“Since I’ve known him, he’s always told me how he could dunk,” Diebler said. “I’ve just said I’ve never really seen it in a game. That was impressive. I’m sure I will forever hear about that.”
Getting a win over Michigan, especially after losing there on January 15, means a lot to Diebler and his players. Key said they practiced well since Thursday’s win over Nebraska.
“We said we’ve got to come out with the aggressiveness, with the fire because they’re going to come out with the same intensity,” Key said. “We took that to heart.”
The difference between the two teams was that the Buckeyes never lost their fire. Michigan had enough fire to rally from a 13-point deficit to 54-47 midway through the second half. Then the Buckeyes caught fire and the last-place Wolverines (8-22, 3-16) were reduced to a flicker. Thornton hit a 3-pointer, Roddy Gayle Jr. went the length of the floor in transition for a three-point play and the lead was back to 13. And that was the ballgame.
The Ohio State team that routinely blew second-half leads, even double-digit ones, hasn’t been seen since Diebler took over.
“In those moments, where the game could potentially swing, we’ve seen different guys within our team step up,” Diebler said. “I feel like the confidence, the aggressiveness we’re playing with, really down the stretch has been a great thing for us.”
And it’s making the family stronger.