In a season filled with “can you believe this is happening?” moments, Chris Holtmann’s Buckeyes just added another one.
Following an 82-64 win over Iowa in front of a rocking and sold out Schottenstein Center, the Ohio State men’s basketball team is now alone atop the Big Ten standings. Above the nation’s no. 3 team, Purdue, who they beat earlier this week. Above the nation’s no. 4 team, Michigan State, who they beat last month.
Go ahead and say it: Can you believe this is happening?
The Spartans finished off the Boilermakers just a few minutes after the OSU game tipped off at the Schott, leaving the Buckeyes as the only team with one loss in Big Ten play.
But knowing they had a chance to take sole possession of first place, and facing a Hawkeye team buried near the bottom of the conference standings, it took the Bucks a little while to get going.
It was a 19-18 game after the first 11 minutes, but everything changed when Iowa’s star forward Tyler Cook picked up his second personal foul and had to head to the bench.
The Buckeyes immediately capitalized with a 14-6 run to take control, and Iowa never got their deficit under 7 for the rest of the night.
OSU took a 42-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
After the break, Holtmann’s team put the pedal down and quickly removed all doubt. C.J. Jackson drained a 3-pointer to start a 14-0 run as the lead ballooned to 22. It got as big as 29, at 76-47, before Iowa made things look a little more respectable against the Buckeyes’ bench.
Kaleb Wesson led all scorers with 18, and also pulled down seven rebounds. Keita Bates-Diop and C.J. Jackson each had 14 points, and Jae’Sean Tate added 11.
The only bad news OSU received all night was a second half injury to Jackson. Replays showed him jumping to block a shot and then grimacing after he landed. He limped to the locker room with about nine minutes left in the game and did not return.
Holtmann said after the game that Jackson was just suffering from cramps. That was a big break for the Buckeyes, who would have been facing a significant hole in the backcourt without him. OSU has already played its last three games without suspended guard Kam Williams. He is out due to an unspecified violation of team rules.
OSU returns to the court on Thursday night in State College, where they will try to avenge their only conference loss of the season against Penn State. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 pm.