Ohio State, which has been winning for the past two months, will play Rutgers on Sunday afternoon to finish the regular season.
At Value City Arena on senior day on Sunday, the Buckeyes defeated the Wolverines 84-61, their most convincing victory against Michigan since 2005. The team had previously defeated Nebraska 78-69 at home and defeated Michigan State 60-57 thanks to a last-second 3-pointer from Dale Bonner. Players think there’s still a chance for the Buckeyes to make it to March Madness because it’s their longest winning streak since they won four in a row from December 16–January 3.
With six games left in his sixth season as coach, Chris Holtmann was fired by athletic director Gene Smith on February 14. Four days later, at Value City Arena, the Buckeyes defeated No. 2 Purdue 73-69 under interim head coach Jake Diebler’s leadership. Following the final whistle, the team celebrated by court-storming.
In the all-time series, Ohio State is ahead 12-5. Although the Buckeyes prevailed in their first meeting with the team this season, they acknowledged that much work remained after the game.
Jake Diebler is the interim head coach of Ohio State. Steve Pikiell, who is in his ninth season with the Scarlet Knights, is the head coach at Rutgers.
Here’s how to watch this Sunday’s Ohio State vs. Rutgers game.
On November 6, Ohio State defeated Oakland 79-73 at Value City Arena to start the season. Greg Kampe, the coach of the Golden Grizzlies, referred to rookie guard Bruce Thornton as “a man” thereafter for his performance. After that, the Buckeyes fell at No. 15 Texas A&M 73-66 on November 10 before defeating Merrimack 76-52 on November 15 and Western Michigan 73-56 on November 19.
After that, on Nov. 24, the Buckeyes defeated Santa Clara 86-56 and No. 17 Alabama 92-81 to win the Emerald Coast Classic. After returning home, they defeated Central Michigan 88-61 on November 29. They then overcame Miami (Ohio) three days later and defeated Minnesota 84-74 in their Big Ten opening.
Then, on December 9, Penn State defeated Ohio State 83-80, and the Buckeyes recovered to improve to 9-2 with a victory over UCLA. The next week, Ohio State defeated New Orleans, defeated West Virginia 78-75 in overtime on December 30 at Cleveland, and defeated Rutgers 76-72 on January 3 before to their defeats on January 6 at Indiana, January 10 at Wisconsin, and January 15 at Michigan.
On January 20, the Buckeyes defeated Penn State 79-67 thanks to a well-rounded offensive approach that had four players score in double figures. For a while, that was the only thing going well: Ohio State suffered defeats on January 23 at Nebraska, 83-79, at Northwestern, 83-58, and on January 27 at home versus Illinois, 87-75.
