Ohio State fifth-year guard Micah Parrish (8) drives towards the net during the game against Iowa Wednesday. The Buckeyes lost to the Hawkeyes 77-70 in the Big Ten Tournament. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Ohio State’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament were up in the air — it likely needed a win over Iowa to secure its spot in the big dance.
The 10th-seeded Buckeyes didn’t execute down the stretch and fell to the 15th-seededed Iowa Hawkeyes, 77-70, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Opportunity squandered. Ohio State’s tournament hopes are now on life support.
A game-high 24 points from guard Bruce Thornton wasn’t enough to compensate for inconsistent play on both ends of the floor.
Ohio State must now sit back and hope that its six Quad 1 wins help it get selected into the field of 68 Sunday evening.
Early on against Iowa, neither team got anything to fall — it took five minutes for the first field goal to be made.
Ohio State missed its first five shots, but it took the Hawkeyes nearly six minutes to tally a point.
From that point on, both offenses began to click.
Iowa made 14 of its 22 shots to end the half, which included six 3-pointers. Buckeyes guard John Mobley Jr. sent Ohio State into the half tied at 37. Ohio State was led by forward Devin Royal, who had a team-high 10 points at the break.
Much like the opening minutes of the game, the Buckeyes came out of the half unable to get much to go offensively — and after a steal and subsequent layup by Iowa forward Seydou Traore, Ohio State faced a game-high eight-point deficit, 54-46.
But the Buckeyes stormed back thanks to an 8-0 run as it took a 57-56 lead with just under 10 minutes left.
Down the stretch, Ohio State failed to score over a four-minute period while Iowa eventually capitalized. The Hawkeyes rattled off seven straight points to push their lead back up to eight with 3:37 to go.
Thornton showed up late for the Buckeyes, but that was it.
Despite seven points by the junior guard in the final two and a half minutes, no other Ohio State player scored a point.
Down by two with 20 seconds to play, the Buckeyes were in striking distance. They needed one stop for a chance to tie or win the game.
But Iowa guard Brock Harding canned a 3-pointer to bury the Buckeyes and send them home.
Ohio State now must wait to see if it makes the NCAA Tournament. The selection show airs Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS.
