Controlling their tournament destiny has been in the Buckeyes’ hands all season. The first team head coach Jake Diebler was responsible for will miss the NcAA tournament for a third straight season. (Press Pros Magazine Photos)
The Ohio State basketball team had everything to gain with a win in the Big Ten Tournament and everything to lose with a loss. They lost.
All the Ohio State basketball team can do between now and Selection Sunday is hope. But there’s nothing springing eternal about that hope.
Not after what happened in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday in Indianapolis. The Buckeyes, masters of inconsistency, played their way out of field of 64 in a 77-70 loss to Iowa, a team with nothing to play for.
Hope. That’s all the Buckeyes have for their future to not be in the NIT again, to not miss the NCAAs for a third straight year. The first team head coach Jake Diebler was responsible for gave away control to their destination Wednesday.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State basketball and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
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Controlling their tournament destiny has been in the Buckeyes’ hands all season. The one-point loss to Pitt they let get away hurts the resume. More close home losses to Oregon by two, Indiana by one and Michigan by three that could have been wins with better execution in the final minutes.
There are others, home and away, in which they failed at the end to be who they were for much of the game. Just win a couple of those and Sunday would be a day to look forward to. Instead, it’s difficult to imagine a 17-15 team – even one with the lifeline of a 9-14 record against Quad 1 and 2 opponents – being one of the last four in and being rewarded with a First Four drive to UD Arena.
The Buckeyes, continuing to lack an offensive threat in the post, were their typical inconsistent selves against Iowa, a 17-15 team with only NIT aspirations. They never looked for more than a couple minutes like the team that beat Kentucky, Purdue and Maryland. Remember how hopeful those wins were?
Iowa couldn’t make a shot early, but neither could the Buckeyes. The game was unwatchable as the teams combined for a 1 for 15 shooting start. Then Iowa got hot. The Buckeyes hung close and went to halftime tied at 37 on John Mobley Jr.’s 3-pointer.
The Buckeyes thumped Iowa 82-65 at home on January 27. In that game, Iowa starter Josh Dix and sixth man Brock Harding shot a combined 0 for 10 and didn’t score. But from the beginning and into the Hawkeyes holding the lead for much of the second half, they were part of a three-man crew that carried the Hawkeyes.
Dix scored 16 points and Harding scored 15 on combined 12 of 19 shooting. And Payton Sandfort scored 17.
Still, because of Bruce Thornton making tough Bruce Thornton shots and scoring 24 points and Devin Royal and Micah Parrish scoring 16, the Buckeyes had hope.
They hung around when the offense attacked the paint and the rim. But when they settled for jump shots, the Iowa lead grew just enough.
Parrish’s three-point play on a strong move tied the score 61-61 with 7:25 left to cap a 11-4 run.
Which way would the Buckeyes go? Would they keep at it, or would they slip back into what got them behind 57-50? Obviously, they slipped into old habits of miscommunicating on defense and Iowa scored seven straight to lead 68-61.
Down 72-65 the Buckeyes needed a miracle rally. Thornton converted a three-point play with 59 seconds left and made a 10-footer with 44 seconds left to cut the deficit to two. But while the Buckeyes were in a bit of a scramble mode on defense, Iowa remained poised. Dix used a pick and roll, the Buckeyes swarmed, and he found a wide open Harding on the back side. Harding, of course, made the 3-point shot for a five-point lead with 14 seconds left. OSU’s hopes for a win, a chance against Illinois on Thursday and a shot at the Big Dance were gone in one swish.
And spring football practice begins Monday.
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