It’s one of the downfalls of playing a less-than-impressive non-conference schedule which featured just two marquee opponents, especially when both games ended with losses: Because Ohio State still lacks a quality win on its resume, the Buckeyes have left themselves with little to no margin for error the rest of the season.
As it stands right now, Ohio State sits at 14-5 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. All five of the Buckeyes’ losses (Louisville, North Carolina, Iowa 2x and Indiana) have come against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. But Ohio State doesn’t have a win over a team inside the RPI Top 50. The Buckeyes’ best win based on RPI is over No. 66 Illinois.
It’s no secret that Big Ten is not as strong in 2015 as it has been in recent years, meaning the opportunity for Ohio State to pick up a quality conference win is harder to come by.
That’s part of the reason why when the Buckeyes take on bottom feeders in the conference, like Thursday’s matchup with Northwestern, they must come away with a win if they wish to make the NCAA tournament.
At this point, a "bad loss" would be devastating.
“They’re a team that, as I’ve watched them get better and better and better, and they’re only 1-4 in the league right now but have had some incredible losses,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said of the Wildcats on his weekly call-in show Monday evening. “We’ve known every year we’ve gone in there it’s been a tough battle. I think the biggest thing for us is getting ourselves ready to play.”
Although every game at this point seems key for Ohio State, Thursday’s matchup against Northwestern marks the beginning of a crucial stretch for the Buckeyes.
After playing on the road against the Wildcats, Ohio State will host No. 23 Indiana and No. 13 Maryland. The Buckeyes will not play another team currently ranked in the top 25 until the season finale, when they host No. 6 Wisconsin.
“If you don't take care of business in the first one then the next one is like a tornado hit.”– Thad Matta
“The one thing I know is that if you treat them all in terms of one game at a time, you’ve got to — if you don’t take care of business in the first one then the next one is like a tornado hit,” Matta said. “If you don’t take care of that one then the third one is — we’ve come home from Iowa and had two practices today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and basically said, ‘Look, we’ve got to get ourselves better on both sides of the ball and there’s got to be be more of an understanding, more of a commitment in terms of what we’re trying to do.’”
Ohio State has a favorable schedule in that there aren't many difficult games remaining. But for a team that still doesn’t have anything that resembles a quality win, that’s not necessarily a good thing.
For now, though, the Buckeyes are only focused on making themselves a better team.
“We’re looking at Northwestern, we’re preparing for those guys, but we’ve got to make sure that our guys have and understanding of what we want to do,” Matta said. “Then we’ll worry about what the opponents want to do.”
