Ohio State has seen this story before, but not in as dramatic of a fashion.

The Buckeyes held onto an eight-point lead with 3:48 to go in the game, connecting on each of its first six 3-point attempts of the second half against one of the best defenses in the Big Ten.

It was an offense that had gone quiet for a stretch in the first half, going through a nearly four-minute scoreless stretch, missing seven straight from the floor. But it was something Ohio State had battled back from, seemingly conquered, enough to earn the road win.

And then the Buckeyes’ offense went radio silent.

After a 3-point make by Jamari Wheeler to secure a six-point lead with less than eight minutes to go in the game, Ohio State made only one of its final 12 attempts from the field, missing each of their last seven from the floor and failing to score a single point after forward Zed Key’s makes from the free-throw line with 3:48 to go.

Ohio State had a sure thing, a game that showed promise in the overall landscape in the Big Ten: traveling to one of the more difficult places to play in the Big Ten, playing well enough for the first 36 minutes before falling apart.

In the span of 3:48, Rutgers took control. Senior guard Geo Baker looked like the Big Ten Player of the Year, scoring eight of the Scarlet Knights’ final 10 points with a ferocious dunk by center Clifford Omoruyi in between.

And there was nothing Ohio State could do to stop it, watching a ball leave the fingertips of freshman guard Malaki Branham’s fingers only to be swatted away by Rutgers guard Caleb McConnell in the final moments to secure the win.

“We just have to get better,” Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann said after the game. “We have to finish games, play with a little more force offensively. We have to help them with that, but we didn’t play with enough force. I thought their activity bothered us, their length.”

The length didn’t bother Ohio State from the outside, hitting 10 of 18 3-point attempts against the Scarlet Knights including six-of-seven attempts in the second half — the only miss being forward Justin Ahrens’ prayer at the buzzer.

In was the inside game, shooting only 33.3% from inside the 3-point line, including only five makes on 22 attempts in the second half.

Key’s performance was more representative of Ohio State’s struggles than Branham’s or forward E.J. Liddell’s. The sophomore forward was inconsistent, making only four of his 12 attempts from the field, including only one of his seven attempts from the floor in the second half.

The Buckeyes won the rebounding battle, especially on the offensive glass, recording 14 compared to Rutgers’ five. But they ended the game with only eight second-chance points to show for it, unable to solve the defensive presence of Omoruyi, McConnell or Paul Mucahy.

“I thought they were just swarming the ball, really physical. I thought the momentum of the crowd. And, honestly, I thought there were some fouls that were just not called,” Holtmann said. “At the end of the day, you just have to be able to play through some physicality.

“You’ve got to give them credit for closing, making the block on the breakaway layup there, being able to get some stops when they needed to and finish when they needed to and grind.”

That’s a mentality Ohio State needs.

It’s a mentality Ohio State had against Duke at home, storming back from a 13-point deficit for a five-point win against the No. 1 team in the country.

It’s the mentality Ohio State had against Purdue on the road, storming back from a 14-point deficit to tie the game in the final moments, only to watch that win vanish on a prayer 3 by Jaden Ivey.

Other than the Duke game, Ohio State has not won a game in which it trailed at halftime this season.

Now, heading into a road matchup with rival Michigan, Ohio State has lost four of its seven Big Ten games on the road this season, remaining undefeated at home.

To Holtmann, that just comes down to force.

Ohio State’s not going to play the Big Ten tournament on its home floor.

It will not play NCAA Tournament games on its home floor either.

Ohio State needs to respond to adversity even when the surrounding atmosphere is not conducive for a response.

That takes time, time Ohio State has not had up to this point due to canceled games and postponed conference games. And that takes experience, something Ohio State hasn’t had as much of this season, with the loss of redshirt senior forward Seth Towns and the continued absence of redshirt senior forward Justice Sueing to injuries.

What Ohio State showed, though, in that final 3:48 Wednesday night was that the Buckeyes still have a lot of learning to do.

They are not close to a finished product.

“Winning on the road’s hard. I think you learn those each step of the way,” Holtmann said. “I don’t think we have certainly mastered that. We just have to keep getting better and do some things better on both ends there.”