Ohio State needs all the time off it can get.
With the No. 23 Buckeyes’ 11-point home win against Michigan State, a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament, something that seemed all but lost after the home loss to Nebraska, is now back within reach.
On Ohio State’s end, it has to win its final game of the regular season Sunday: Senior Day against a Michigan team it pummeled by 11 points in Ann Arbor Feb. 12.
From there, if the Buckeyes get their job done, they become Illinois fans, needing the Fighting Illini to pull out a win against a surging Iowa team that has won each of its past five games, all by double-digits.
If everything goes Ohio State’s way, the team will be rewarded with a four-day break: the Buckeyes’ longest since their postponed contest against Iowa Feb. 3 led to a six-day break between their loss at Purdue Jan. 30 and their home win against Maryland Feb. 6.
Ohio State is a team that desperately needs a break.
Ending the season with four games in eight days, the Buckeyes are short-handed, especially in the post.
Along with the continued absence of Seth Towns, who head coach Chris Holtmann confirmed in February would miss the remainder of the 2021-22 season working his way back from back surgery, and Justice Sueing, who remains out with an abdominal injury, sophomore forward Zed Key has missed each of the Buckeyes’ last two games after suffering an ankle injury against Maryland.
With Key out, redshirt senior forward Kyle Young replaced the sophomore in the starting lineup against the Cornhuskers, but lasted eight minutes, being removed from the game and leaving the court with what the team called an “illness” before Holtmann confirmed it as a concussion Thursday after the Michigan State win.
In both of their absences, redshirt senior center Joey Brunk shined against the Spartans Thursday, scoring 19 points — his most since Jan. 9, 2019 when he scored 20 points against Seton Hall at Butler — making seven of his 10 attempts from the field.
The Ohio State head coach was frank. He doesn’t know when Key or Young will return to the lineup. But to him, that’s why this double-bye is so important.
“We’ll probably talk about that. I don’t want to overdo it because I want to focus on us: the things that I think are important that will put us in that position versus just the outcome,” Holtmann said. “Certainly there is important stuff with that with our injury situation. I don’t know when those guys will be back. I couldn’t give you an update on when they are going to be back.”
But Holtmann knows it's not the end of the world if the double-bye doesn’t happen.
Games will still have to be played, opening the tournament a day earlier than the Buckeyes wanted to against Minnesota or Northwestern instead of starting Friday against the Hawkeyes.
The double-bye will be mentioned, Holtmann said, because it’s the best-case scenario. If it doesn’t happen, the Ohio State head coach’s approach doesn’t change.
“Obviously it’s not the be all, end all,” he said. “I want to improve in the areas we have to improve in as we get to the postseason.”
