There are losses that sting, and then there are losses that teach. Last friday night in Pittsburgh fell into both categories for Ohio State.
A 67–66 defeat decided by a buzzer-beating 3 from Damarco Minor that erased a late Buckeye lead and handed Ohio State its first loss. A one-point defeat on a contested shot at the horn didn’t just sting because it ended a winnable game, it hurt because it mirrored the exact heartbreak the Buckeyes experienced last season against this same team, in basically the same way.
But as frustrating as the moment was, the calendar offers no time for sulking with a demanding four-game stretch upcoming for the Buckeyes. At Northwestern, home against Illinois, then West Virginia and North Carolina at neutral sites, Jake Diebler’s second-year team suddenly has a clear runway to redefine its reputation.
The question now is whether the Buckeyes can turn deja vu disappointment into the pivot point of their season.
A familiar collapse, and the first fixes
The loss to Pitt highlighted problems Ohio State has struggled to shake in recent seasons. The kinds of late-game issues that separate tough road wins from missed opportunities.
Defensive communication wavered during key possessions, rebounding discipline slipped at the wrong moments, and the Buckeyes never fully settled into a confident, organized approach in the final minutes. Devin Royal’s 22 points and Bruce Thornton’s work on both ends showed that the talent and competitiveness are firmly in place, this team can stand toe-to-toe with high-major opponents.
But talent alone isn’t what closes games, composure, consistency, and repetition are. For Jake Diebler and his staff, the challenge now is both clear and fixable. Sharpening situational defense, defining roles when the game tightens, and tightening rotations so the group on the floor knows exactly how to execute when the pressure hits.
These are not identity-defining flaws, but details that must become strengths if Ohio State wants to turn tight games into wins further on in the season.
What Diebler can lean on as the stretch begins
The encouraging sign for Ohio State is that the roster offers solutions.
Royal is emerging as a matchup-winning scoring threat, Thornton continues to play like one of the Big Ten’s steadiest guards, and the frontcourt depth from Christoph Tilly to Ivan Njegovan to Brandon Noel gives the Buckeyes multiple looks in the frontcourt, something they haven’t had in a while.
The next step is consistency. For Diebler, that means settling on a closing lineup, tightening defensive communication, and trusting units that rebound and defend the three even if it costs some offensive fluidity.
This next four-game block will test that immensly. Northwestern’s shot-making, Illinois’ physicality, West Virginia’s intensity, and North Carolina’s athleticism all challenge different parts of Ohio State’s identity. If the Buckeyes can dictate matchups instead of reacting to them, they won’t just survive the stretch they could potentially own it.
A chance to flip the narrative
In a sport where season-defining moments often come in clusters, Ohio State now has a rare opportunity.
Stealing a win in Evanston would immediately reset momentum. Holding serve at home against Illinois would steady confidence. And competing, or even upsetting, in the neutral-site showcases against West Virginia and North Carolina would reshape the Buckeyes’ national perception after a painful loss.
Diebler’s young tenure has already included flashes of growth, and this moment presents another, guiding a roster from emotional setback to tactical sharpness, from a repeated heartbreak to a renewed trajectory. If the Buckeyes can steady themselves and grow from this, the lasting memory won’t be the shot that ended the night in Pittsburgh, it will be how that moment reshaped their season’s trajectory.
