Don't let the above picture fool you. Andrew Dakich did a lot more for Ohio State in Thursday night's 92-81 win over Iowa than just cheer on his team from the bench.
With starting point guard C.J. Jackson collecting two fouls less than six minutes into the game, Dakich checked in with Ohio State nursing a 14-12 lead, and promptly stole an errant Iowa pass on his first defensive possession.
From there, Dakich dished out five of his six assists in the first half, leading Ohio State to a 17-point advantage just before the end of the first half. His lone points of the game came on a driving layup in the closing minutes of the opening frame, a basket Chris Holtmann said he was surprised went in.
Iowa switched to man and Andrew Dakich promptly torched it. Silly Iowa pic.twitter.com/meZosm7moM
— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) January 5, 2018
"Andrew really stabilized us and did a terrific job," Holtmann said in his postgame press conference in Iowa City. "He made a shot in the first half that I am still wondering how it went in. He stabilized us with his ball handling."
Outside of Keita Bates-Diop, who matched a career-high with 27 points in a double-double performance against Iowa, Dakich posted the best plus-minus of any player Thursday night, as Ohio State was plus-12 with the backup point guard on the floor. Dakich's six assists were a career-high as were the 26 minutes he played against the Hawkeyes.
In the second half, Jackson returned to form, scoring all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes of the contest. However, it was Dakich and the Ohio State bench that propelled the Buckeyes to its first-half lead before Bates-Diop took over in the second half. Each player off the Buckeye bench recorded a positive plus-minus against the Hawkeyes. The performance from Ohio State's bench was perhaps its best of the 2017-18 campaign, Holtmann said.
"Our bench was really important for us as well. It was probably the best our bench has played in quite some time, maybe all year," he said.
The play from the bench will continue to be crucial for Ohio State as No. 1 Michigan State is set to invade Columbus on Sunday with tip set for 4:30 p.m. on CBS.
