After a two-year hiatus from the NCAA Tournament, the Ohio State men's basketball team is dancing and has just a small window of time to prepare for the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State in the 5-12 game in the West Region.

South Dakota State won both the regular season and conference tournament championships of the Summit league en route to a 13-1 conference record and 28-6 overall record during the 2017-18 season. The Jackrabbits have lost once in the year of 2018 (an 87-68 loss to South Dakota on the road) and have scored at least 70 points in every game since that loss except once (a 66-60 win over Western Illinois).

SDSU cannot be accused of ducking teams during the non-conference schedule with Kansas, Wichita State, Ole Miss, Colorado and Iowa all appearing on the non-con schedule. The Jackrabbits did come up short against several of their high-major opponents but that did not stop them from taking down Big Ten member, Iowa, in the Cayman Islands in November.

To Iowa's credit, the Hawkeyes held SDSU's best player Mike Daum in check with only 10 points on 4-11 shooting. The Hawkeyes were not as fortunate slowing down the SDSU bench, especially freshman guard David Jenkins, Jr. who had 23 points on 7-12 shooting including three three-pointers. Jenkins would find himself inserted in the starting lineup just a few games after that 80-72 win over Iowa.

Stopping Daum seems to be one of the biggest factors of slowing down SDSU. In the six losses the Jackrabbits have suffered, Daum has been held under 50-percent from the field in five of those games including a 2-12 night against Wyoming and a 3-14 night against Missouri State. That does not mean that Daum will stop shooting however, he has attempted at least 15 field goal attempts in the last 12 games and has been held under 20 points in less than 1/3 of SDSU's games.

That does not mean a team can only focus on Daum and let the rest of the team run wild. Jenkins is second on the team with 16.1 ppg. along with a 39-percent success rate from beyond the arc. Reed Tellinghuisen is third on the team with 12 ppg and close to a 40-percent make rate from distance.

In fact, almost everyone on the SDSU is a threat from outside with a team effort of 40.3-percent from three and only four players on the roster attempting less than 50 shots from distance. By comparison, the Buckeyes are 35.3-percent from distance and only four players have attempted 50 or more three-balls (Keita Bates-Diop, C.J. Jackson, Kam Williams, Kaleb Wesson).

South Dakota State puts a lot of points up on the board with an average of 84.9 ppg. but teams are scoring at a good rate as well with 74.1 ppg. and in the six losses this season, SDSU has given up 90.3 pgg.

The Buckeyes on the other hand average 75.8 points per game but only allow 66.7 points per contest. No team has broken 80 against Ohio State since Penn State did it in January in Columbus. No team has reached the scoring average of SDSU (84.9) since the Buckeyes lost to North Carolina in New Orleans.

No team in the Big Ten scored more than 81.1 points per game but the Buckeyes played all four teams that had a higher scoring average (or equal) to Ohio State and the Buckeyes went 5-0 against those foes and held them to an average of 67.8 ppg.

Kaleb Wesson and Micah Potter won't have to worry about facing anyone bigger than them against SDSU with no player checking in north of 6-foot-9 (Daum). Nobody is going to mistake the Jackrabbits for the Boilermakers or Spartans when it comes to size on the court. That does not mean that SDSU will run out a roster full of 6-foot guards. SDSU has good size for a mid-major in the front court with Daum (6-9), Tellinghuisen (6-7) and Skyler Flatten (6-6) and a backcourt of Tevin King (6-2) and Jenkins (6-2).

One thing that SDSU has that Ohio State does not have is tournament experience. That does not mean that the Jackrabbits have tasted a win in the NCAA Tourney however, the team is 0-4 since 2012 in the "Big Dance', most recently with a 66-46 loss to No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the 2018 tournament. That does not mean the Jackrabbits have not come close however. In 2016, as a 12-seed (as they are this year), they lost to Maryland 79-74 in an opening round game. SDSU was only down two points with 1:03 left in the game but could not overtake the Terps.

Fans won't have to wait much longer with the game scheduled to tip at 4:00pm (EDT) on Thursday and airing on TNT. BuckeyeGrove.com will be in Boise for all of the first weekend action as the Buckeyes look to advance to the second round and a potential rematch with Gonzaga.