Welcome to You’re Nuts: “We are in the NCAA Tournament” Edition. Every Friday, our basketball writers pick a basketball-focused topic and debate it to the death — or until Ohio State is eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament whichever comes first.
Jake Diebler’s Buckeyes kept the good vibes rolling over the last week, sending Bruce Thornton off in style in victory over the Indiana Hoosiers last Saturday to close the regular season. Ohio State then extended its winning streak to four games by knocking
off the 9th-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday afternoon, 72-69.
Ohio State is now 21-11 on the season, and is currently projected to be a 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament according to Bracket Matrix.
Last week, Connor and Justin debated which Big Ten Tournament seed would be most beneficial to Ohio State. At the time only the 7, 8, and 9 seeds were mathematically possible.
Connor said the 7-seed, because it was the only option that would give them a path that did not include facing Michigan right away, and would also avoid a rematch with and Iowa team that kicked their butt in Iowa City less than a month ago.
Justin said the 9-seed, because it would’ve pitted Ohio State against the winner of the Maryland-Oregon game first and gave Ohio State a chance to get to 20 wins, should they lose to Indiana.
Well, Ohio State beat Indiana, clinched the 8-seed, and earned a path that included the only two teams that blew them out this season by 15+ points.
However, Ohio State made the necessary adjustments on Thursday afternoon, opening up a 16-point second half lead on Iowa and hanging on in the final seconds to beat the Hawkeyes by three.
Thursday’s win over Iowa wasn’t needed to make the NCAA Tournament, and it may not even change their seed line in the NCAA Tournament. But it proved that Jake Diebler was able to make critical adjustments after losing to the same team two weeks ago, and also showed that the Buckeyes are made of the right stuff to beat an NCAA Tournament-caliber team on a neutral floor — which is exactly what they’ll need to do next week.
Several players stepped up against the Hawkeyes, but who do you think was the most valuable player in that game?
Who was Ohio State’s MVP in the win over Iowa?
Connor: Christoph Tilly
Tilly was an unexpected scratch when these two teams met on February 25, and his absence was felt all over the floor. Iowa sent multiple defenders at Bruce Thornton, and his teammates struggled to get open and read the floor once Thornton got the ball to them.
Then, Ohio State would have to continue their offensive possession with the ball in someone other than Thornton’s hands and less time on the shot clock — exactly what Iowa wanted.
Defensively, there was just so much that Tilly can do that Ivan Njegovan struggles with. He’s not able to switch much on defense, so teams do their best to isolate him against guards, which almost always leads to points for the other team.
Tilly was back on Thursday and delivered in a huge way for Ohio State. Iowa tried to run the same script again, throwing several defenders at Thornton to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible. But this time, Tilly was around and acted as a pressure relief valve for Thornton when Iowa rushed him.
While Iowa tried to remove Thornton, Tilly feasted on the interior, scoring 12 points in the first half. He went to the free throw line four times, going 6-for-8 as Iowa’s big men Alvaro Folgueiras and Cam Manyawu weren’t able to wrangle him near the basket.
By the time the second half rolled around, Iowa was forced to adjust. They were no longer able to double team Thornton because Tilly was burning them near the basket, so they went 1-on-1 against Thornton and he went to town, scoring 17 points in the second half, including 10 in a row at one point.
Tilly finished the day with 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting and was 6-for-9 from the free throw line in 29 minutes. Him being available on Thursday was the biggest difference between that game and Ohio State’s 74-57 loss to that same Iowa team a few weeks ago.
Justin: Bruce Thornton
I am going to take the low hanging fruit and take the captain for this one. Bruce Thornton finished with 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field and 2-for-4 from three-point range. He added six rebounds and three assists with just one turnover in 38 minutes played.
The big picture as to why Thornton is the MVP of this game is how he dictated the game. In the first game, Iowa doubled Thornton every time he touched the ball and blitzed all of the ball screens to take the ball out of his hands in the first half both games.
Last time, no one stepped up. This time, other guys did. Because guys like Tilly and Bynum were able to convert in the post, they had to guard Thornton normally in the second half and he went on a 10-0 scoring run by himself.
After that, the Buckeyes never gave back the lead.
He let the game come to him and was hyper efficient. Offensively, he was basically perfect. I don’t think there is much more to say than that. The Hawkeyes had a great gameplan against Thornton in the first game but in this one, the Buckeyes used it against them.
