The Ohio State men's basketball team is on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament after a disappointing run in Big Ten play this season.
The Ohio State Buckeyes had a chance to improve their resume in February when they hosted rival Michigan on Sunday.
A win over the No. 2 Wolverines would have given the NCAA Tournament selection committee a reason to think Ohio State had a chance to have success in March.
Instead, the Buckeyes were soundly beaten 82-61 in front of 17,684 fans at Value City Arena. OSU fell to 15-8 overall on the season and 7-6 in Big Ten play before hosting Wisconsin on Tuesday night.
Before Sunday's loss, David Cobb of CBS Sports had the Buckeyes as a first-four team out of the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State needs a big win to make the tournament.
"Ohio State is winless in Quad 1 and desperately needs a marquee victory to pair with its top-40 rating in predictive metrics," Cobb wrote. "Beating rival Michigan on Sunday would absolutely fit the bill.
"If not, four more projected Quad 1 games are still on the Buckeyes' regular season slate. It would be smart for them to win a couple of those as they seek to reach the dance for the first time since 2022."
Ohio State can still impress the committee with Quad 1 contests against Iowa, Virginia, Michigan State and Purdue. But the loss to Michigan put OSU even more in the hole.
Following the loss to Michigan, Ohio State head coach Jake Diebler said the team lacked the physicality to match its rival.
“I don’t know that I would say there was a lack of effort; there was a major lack of physicality,” Diebler said. “Those are two different things. I mean, there’s some correlation to some degree.
But we didn’t lack effort; we lacked major physicality. And to give you an example, a shot goes up, it’s not like we weren’t running hard to the rim. The problem was, we were running hard to the rim, and not running hard to hit somebody, and creating contact so we could rebound down the floor."
Diebler is going to need the Buckeyes to win some big games down the stretch, or the head coach could be out of a job if the program fails to reach the NCAA Tournament.