Ohio State’s stay in Chicago is turning out to be longer than expected.
After holding on late to beat Wisconsin in their first-round Big Ten Tournament matchup Wednesday, the 13th-seeded Buckeyes pulled off a second-round upset over fifth-seed Iowa Thursday to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Ohio State and Iowa split their two meetings in the regular season, but the Buckeyes had the upper hand in the rubber match, 73-69, at the United Center.
| Team | 1 | 2 | FINAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| #13 OHIO STATE | 29 | 44 | 73 |
| #5 IOWA | 28 | 41 | 69 |
In a back-and-forth affair that went down to the wire, a surprising barrage of buckets by Roddy Gayle gave the Buckeyes a slight edge as the clock ticked under three minutes. Justice Sueing followed suit with a clutch 3-pointer that put OSU ahead by four points with 1:54 left to play.
Gayle knocked down a pair of free throws with 33.4 seconds to go, keeping the Buckeyes up four, but Iowa answered at the foul line on the next possession. Then after a wild scramble for the ball that spanned both sides of the floor, Ohio State retained possession and Sueing hit both ends of a one-and-one to ice the game.
First Half
Iowa’s aggressive defensive play bothered Ohio State in the opening few minutes as the Buckeyes missed four of their first five shots and went down five points to the Hawkeyes by the 14:35 mark. But Ohio State found its rhythm soon thereafter.
Brice Sensabaugh scored three straight Buckeye baskets to inject some life into the OSU offense, and Ohio State knocked down six shots out of seven as a result. The Buckeyes embarked on an 8-2 run that put them ahead after 10 minutes of action.
Ohio State went up 21-15 after Sean McNeil gave Ohio State its first 3-point make of the day, but the Hawkeyes answered with the next five points in a row. That sparked a 9-2 run for Iowa, which retook a 24-23 lead as the clock ticked under four minutes.
The Buckeyes went back ahead after a 3-pointer from Bruce Thornton, who scored a team-high nine first-half points, and Ohio State got a stop at the buzzer to take a 29-28 lead into halftime.
The Big Ten’s highest-scoring team in the regular season, Iowa hit just two of its 10 3-point attempts in a lackluster half offensively. Scoring leader Kris Murray shot 1-for-6 from the 3-point line, and even though the Hawkeyes hit 50% of their shots overall, they didn’t attempt a free throw in the first 20 minutes.
Ohio State shot 44.4% from the floor, but scored eight points on Iowa’s turnovers – including seven Buckeye steals – to help make up the difference.
Second Half
| OHIO STATE | STAT | IOWA |
|---|---|---|
| 73 | POINTS | 69 |
| 29-59 (49.2%) | FGM-FGA (PCT.) | 26-56 (46.4%) |
| 7-18 (38.9%) | 3PM-3PA (PCT.) | 4-17 (23.5%) |
| 8-10 (80%) | FTM-FTA (PCT.) | 13-16 (81.3%) |
| 8 | TURNOVERS | 11 |
| 29 | TOTAL REBOUNDS | 31 |
| 9 | OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 11 |
| 20 | DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS | 20 |
| 15 | BENCH POINTS | 15 |
| 4 | BLOCKS | 5 |
| 10 | STEALS | 3 |
| 17 | ASSISTS | 11 |
Iowa ramped up the pressure on Ohio State right away to open up the second half, employing a fullcourt press that gave the Buckeyes trouble out of the gates. The Hawkeyes got the lead back on the first shot attempt of the half and took a four-point edge by the 15:14 mark.
After that, both sides went back and forth, answering each other shot-for-shot as the lead changed repeatedly in a razor-close ballgame. Halfway through the period, there had already been 17 lead changes at the United Center.
Ohio State tied things up 57-all on a Roddy Gayle dribble drive at the 6:02 mark, and a Sensabaugh layup knotted the game up at 59-59 a minute later. But in both cases, Iowa responded with two-point possessions to stay one step ahead of the Buckeyes.
By the 3:23 mark, though, Gayle gave Ohio State a 64-61 lead with a 3-pointer from the wing. Gayle scored seven out of nine points for the Buckeyes in a little over two-and-a-half minutes, and each of his shots was huge for OSU.
With 1:54 to play, Justice Sueing bobbled a pass but then nailed a triple from the corner to give Ohio State a four-point lead. Then Iowa knocked down a pair of free throws at the other end to cut the Buckeye advantage to just two points.
Gayle hit two clutch free throws with 33.4 seconds left, but the Buckeyes still weren’t out of danger. It was just a two-point contest when Sueing stepped to the line for a one-and-one with 9.4 seconds on the clock.
But he made them both to clinch the win for the scarlet and gray.
What’s Next?
Ohio State moves on to the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament where it faces a third matchup with fourth-seeded Michigan State at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The Spartans won both of their previous meetings with Ohio State in 2022-23, including the regular-season finale this past Saturday.
Game Notes
- The Ohio State startling lineup saw no changes from Wednesday, with Bruce Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Brice Sensabaugh, Justice Sueing and Felix Okpara getting the nod.
- Ohio State blew Iowa out by 16 points in the first matchup this season, a 93-77 Buckeye victory at the Schottenstein Center on Jan. 21. But the Hawkeyes returned the favor with a 92-75 win against the Buckeyes in Iowa City on Feb. 16.
- The Buckeyes hadn’t played Iowa in the postseason since 2005-06, when the Hawkeyes beat Ohio State 67-60 in the Big Ten Tournament on March 12, 2006.
- In Ohio State’s last appearance in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes bowed out in an upset loss to Penn State on March 10, 2022.
