Jamison Battle found the range in the second half, scoring all 23 of his points for Ohio State.
While it might prove incorrect, the perception is Ohio State might be just another victory from a reward no one thought possible a month ago after a start-to-finish dismissal of Iowa on Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament.
Minneapolis, MN – On the day Chris Holtmann gained another college basketball head coaching job, the players left in the wake of his disastrous final weeks at Ohio State continued playing at a level they couldn’t sustain under his direction.
Opening the Big Ten Tournament with a dominant 90-78 win over Iowa, OSU (20-12) won its fifth straight game and sixth in seven games under interim coach Jake Diebler.
The victory raises the possibility – once absurd – that the Buckeyes might be able to climb into plausible NCAA Tournament consideration should they defeat second-seeded Illinois (23-8) in a 6:30 p.m. tipoff Friday night at the Target Center.
“It’s almost like living a dream right now,” Diebler said. “The circumstances are certainly unfortunate. Coach Holtmann means so much to me personally. He’s had so much influence on me as a coach and as a person.”
While it’s surely not his intention, Diebler is making Holtmann look worse every day, avenging a two-point loss to Iowa under Holtmann’s direction with a victory in which OSU never trailed, despite the Hawkeyes (18-15) needing the win to position themselves for an NCAA bid.
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Holtmann got hired yesterday at DePaul, which hasn’t been relevant in college basketball in two decades and would rank among the worst Power 5 jobs in America.
Maybe Holtmann can turn the Blue Demons around, although the prospect of him recruiting the Chicago Public League that once sustained the program when Ray Meyer and his son, Joey, ran things is hard to envision.
OSU’s Scotty Middleton hit three triples and scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
So would have been picturing what Ohio State has done since Diebler became the interim coach on Feb. 14.
But that’s the thing…you don’t have to imagine it, because the Buckeyes are actually doing it.
Jamison Battle, the Minnesota transfer who said he came to Ohio State because it gave him the best chance to play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career, scored all 23 of his points in the second half to continue OSU’s improbable run.
“I didn’t have to say much to him,” Diebler said. “I just told him to stay aggressive. Then it was on me to get him some more looks. His aggressiveness was really impressive.”
After an 0-for-2 first half in which the leading Big Ten three-point shooter didn’t attempt either of his shots from behind the line, Battle opened the second-half with a triple at 19:07 and never let up thereafter.
He had 17 points in the first 12:30 of the half, scoring from inside, outside and the free throw line.
OSU survived his cold start thanks to 11 first-half points from freshman Scotty Middleton and 12 more collectively from fellow substitutes Devin Royal, Zed Key, Dale Bonner and Taison Chatman.
“We have way more than five starters on this team,” Diebler said. “Scotty Middleton was fantastic. Zed Key came in and did some great things for us. Devin Royal has been really consistent. Dale came in and was productive. We have a lot of depth on this team and it keeps showing up in a big way.”
What’s also clear – besides Diebler’s willingness to play his bench – is OSU’s urgency getting easy baskets in transition.
The Buckeyes were averaging less than three points per-game on the break under Holtmann against Big Ten competition. Since Diebler took over, they’ve averaged nearly 13 per-game on the break, getting one more than that against the Hawkeyes.
Royal’s dunk at 2:50 made Iowa pay for its backcourt pressure and Battle threw down the exclamation point on a getaway at 1:15 to assure OSU’s advance into the second round.
Avenging an 87-75 home loss to Illinois from Jan. 30 won’t be easy, but nothing was in that month when Ohio State went 2-6 to set the stage for Holtmann’s firing two weeks later.
“It would mean a great deal,” Diebler said of the significance of upsetting the Illini. “Listen, when this happened back in the middle of February, we talked about the opportunity that was in front of us.
“Our guys have earned the right to embrace how meaningful these games are. We’re not shying away from what’s at stake. We’re able to do that because of how mature our group is and they understand that in order to keep going, we have to focus on the task at hand and we have to continue to get a little tougher and be a little bit more together and sustain our urgency and aggressiveness as long as we can.”
