The Ohio State Buckeyes (10-6, 0-3) dropped their third straight game to open up Big Ten play, falling to Minnesota 78-68 on Sunday evening.
It doesn’t get any easier, as the Buckeyes travel to Wisconsin to face the No. 13 Badgers on Thursday night, where the Scarlet and Gray will once again play the underdog role.
Wisconsin lost to No. 20 Purdue on Sunday night and while that may be a sign that the Badgers are vulnerable, it also means they’ll be even more hungry to avoid falling into a skid.
The Big Ten schedule has not been kind to the Bucks so far, who played two of their first three games on the road and the lone home game against Purdue.
Minnesota is off to a great start to the season, improving to 15-2 (3-1 Big Ten) with the win, thanks to 19 points from Amir Coffey and 18 from Akeem Springs in the win over Ohio State.
All of that being said, 0 and 3 is not the type of start that falls in line with Ohio State’s basketball tradition and 0-4 seems more realistic than the alternative, come Thursday.
Thad Matta is aware of the stakes and while these struggles fall on the shoulders of the coach and his players, there’s still time to end this slump and finish the regular season on a good note.
Wisconsin will be a difficult challenge.
The Buckeyes also will be without forward Keita Bates-Diop for the rest of the season, as the junior is sidelined with a stress fracture in his left leg.
The road ahead does not look good for Ohio State, but these are the types of circumstances that could either show the resolve of Matta and this core of guys or could mark the end of an era and a fresh start for OSU Basketball after this season.
Guys like Marc Loving, Trevor Thompson, and Jae’Sean Tate have fought hard for Matta for more than three years, but have come up on the wrong end of some competitive seasons too often.
Perhaps Tate, a junior, will be around after this season, but he’s been the most consistently productive scorer for the past two years and may very well end up declaring for the upcoming NBA Draft.
Younger players, like JaQuan Lyle, C.J. Jackson, and Micah Potter may have many games left in Columbus beyond 2017.
Lyle is far from a guarantee to stay after this season, as well, but has been inconsistent in his sophomore campaign.
Even if the Buckeyes continue down this path of Big Ten mediocrity, this season could be particularly interesting to see how those three develop as the weeks go by and we start to get a clearer picture of what to expect for the future.
Matta and company will look to pull off the upset on Thursday night at 7 pm ET on ESPN 2 and try to salvage their Big Ten portion of the season.
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