COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Buckeyes' chances of making the NCAA Tournament are somewhere in the range of long to quite long. Thad Matta's team is sitting at 15-11 on the season and 5-8 in the Big Ten with an RPI of 63 (according to realtimeRPI.com). The team has five games left and none of the games would be considered easy wit trips to East Lansing (Mich.) and State College (Pa.) on the schedule with home games against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Indiana as well.
The good news is only one of those games is against a top-four team in the conference with 10-2 Wisconsin on the schedule. The combined league records of teams that Ohio State is going up against is a manageable 32-30. The Buckeyes are also a combined 2-1 against teams on the schedule with having no games this season to date with Penn State and Indiana.
So while it may appear that Ohio State is going to be relegated to the NIT at the end of this season, the Buckeyes are not taking that kind of approach. While a 5-0 run may be shooting for the moon this a quad that has not been able to string together a winning streak of longer than two games in Big Ten play and has not won five in a row since the start of the season, there is reason to still hold out some hope.
But that all starts with a trip to East Lansing to take on the Spartans, a team that Ohio State held on for a 72-67 win in Columbus over.
"There is no margin for error," Ohio State forward Jae'Sean Tate said on Monday afternoon. "We just got to go in these last five games like there is no margin, we have to win these ones."
The Buckeyes are not only playing for conference wins and trying to impress the committee with an overall record but are also playing for Big Ten Tournament seeding which could be very important. If the Tournament started today, the Buckeyes would be tied with Indiana for that 13th spot, a spot that will have to play an extra game on Wednesday against the No. 16 seed. While an extra win would be great, a win over what will likely be Rutgers will not have much value in the eyes of a selection committee.
Honestly, the Buckeyes may have to win the Big Ten Tournament outright to get into the NCAA Tournament.
"Hopefully we do that and put ourselves in a good position for the Big Ten Tournament because I really do think that we can make some noise in there and hopefully win that tournament," Tate added. "Then just see how it goes."
It all starts with a Michigan State team that may not be securely in the field of 68 either and needs to do some work. The Spartans have three of their last six games against ranked teams and a loss to Ohio State would be a wounding that may prove to be fatal to their chances.
"We've got to play," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. "Obviously, we have work to do but there is nothing that can be done except play well tomorrow night and that quite honestly is where our focus is. That is what we told the guys."
The Buckeyes have not won at the Breslin Center since the 2011-12 season when William Buford hit a jumper with one second left to give Ohio State a 72-70 win and forced a three-way tie for the Big Ten regular season title.
"We are just taking it day-by-day still, getting prepared for Michigan State," Tate said. "It is a tough environment up there. I have not won up there before. Trying to go in and get the W there."
The Buckeyes are hopeful to have JaQuan Lyle back in the lineup after a family emergency prompted him to miss Ohio State's game against Maryland. Undermanned and saddled with foul trouble, the Buckeyes cut a 16-point Terps lead down to five in the final two minutes before coming up short. The Buckeyes obviously cannot afford another loss but saw what it would take from an effort standpoint to compete down the stretch.
"I think everybody that played, starters and bench, we played as a team and played as one unit," Tate said. "We played for each other and together. It is just that Maryland did everything that they had to do to win. They made the shots that they had to make and we left it all out there on the floor. I feel like if we just build off of this loss and continue to play like that, I think we are going to win a lot more ball games in this stretch."
