The men’s basketball team at Ohio State has dropped its last three games for the second time this season. After suffering losses last week while traveling to Nebraska and Northwestern, the Buckeyes lost to Illinois 87-75 at home on Tuesday night. Following the defeat to the Fighting Illini, Ohio State has now dropped six of their previous seven games; their lone victory came against Penn State at home. In addition to their January slump, the Buckeyes have lost their previous 14 road games and have been terrible on the road overall the last year.
Against a formidable Illinois squad on Tuesday night, Ohio State put up a little more of a fight after a poor performance at Northwestern on Saturday. The increased effort was insufficient.
With 21 points in the game on Tuesday, Jamison Battle led Ohio State in scoring. Battle had been struggling recently, scoring only 32 points in his previous four games coming into Tuesday’s match. For the fourth time this season, and for the first time since he scored 22 points in the victory over Rutgers at the start of the month, the Minnesota transfer scored 20 points or more. Roddy Gayle Jr., who scored 20 points on Tuesday night, was right behind Battle in the scoring column. The only other Ohio State player to score in double figures was Evan Mahaffey, whose 13 points ranked as his second-highest point total during his time as a Buckeye.
Bruce Thornton is one Buckeye who has been having difficulty recently. Above the
Iowa has lost three of its last four games and is playing some of its poorest basketball of the season, much like Ohio State. The Hawkeyes’ most recent defeat came on Tuesday night at Bloomington, Indiana, where they were defeated 74-69 by the Hoosiers. Even though they lost, Fran McCaffrey’s side persevered, coming back from deficits of 17 points in the first half and 12 points in the second. Payton Sandfort’s jumper gave Iowa a 68-66 lead with 1:42 remaining in the game, and Iowa would go on to win the next eight points against Indiana.
Sandfort finished with a team-high 26 points after making a late-game jumper to give Iowa a small lead. With his 26-point explosion, Sandfort increased his season total to
The Buckeyes and Hawkeyes are meeting for the 169th time this season. The all-time series is amazingly tied at 84. The teams faced off three times last year, with Ohio State emerging victorious in two of those meetings. In January, the Buckeyes triumphed 93-77 in Columbus, and a little less than a month later, Iowa triumphed 92-75 at home. In the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State defeated 69-69 in the rubber match. The Hawkeyes advanced to the NCAA Tournament despite the setback in Chicago; they were defeated by Auburn in the opening round, while the Buckeyes remained at home.
Tony Perkins, a senior guard, is leading Iowa in scoring this season with an average of 15.5 points per game. In the defeat to his home state and scored 22 points in the process, recording his fourth game in a row with at least 20 points. In addition to his prolific scoring ability, Perkins has demonstrated great activity in other areas of the floor, averaging nearly two steals, four rebounds, and four assists per game.
