MINNEAPOLIS (WCMH) — The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team now knows its path for the 2024 Big Ten tournament as they try to make another upset-filled run.
After a 73-51 win at Rutgers on Sunday, Ohio State (18-13, 9-11) claimed the No. 10 seed for next week’s conference tournament. As the 10-seed, the Buckeyes will begin its journey in the second round and face No. 7 seed Iowa (18-13, 10-10) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET in Minneapolis.
The winner of the Ohio State-Iowa game will face No. 2 seed Illinois on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
2024 Big Ten tournament schedule
First Round – Wednesday, March 13
Game 1: 6:30 p.m. – No. 12 Maryland vs. No. 13 Rutgers
Game 2: 25 minutes after Game 1 – No. 11 Penn State vs. No. 14 Michigan
Second Round – Thursday, March 14
Game 3: 12 p.m. – No. 8 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Minnesota
Game 4: 25 minutes after Game 2 – No. 5 Wisconsin vs. Game 1 Winner
Game 5: 6:30 p.m. – No. 7 Iowa vs. No. 10 Ohio State
Game 6: 25 minutes after Game 5 – No. 6 Indiana vs. Game 2 Winner
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 15
Game 7: 12 p.m. – No. 1 Purdue vs. Game 3 Winner
Game 8: 25 minutes after Game 7 – No. 4 Northwestern vs. Game 4 Winner
Game 9: 6:30 p.m. – No. 2 Illinois vs. Game 5 Winner
Game 10: 25 minutes after Game 9 – No. 3 Nebraska vs. Game 6 Winner
Semifinals – Saturday, March 16
Game 11: 1 p.m. – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner
Game 12: 25 minutes after Game 11 – Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
Final – Sunday, March 17 (3:30 p.m.)
The Buckeyes ended the regular season with a 19-12 record, that included nine Big Ten victories, an improvement to last season’s 5-15 conference record. After a successful non-conference season that included wins over Alabama and UCLA, Ohio State struggled through the early portion of Big Ten play.
After a Feb. 13 loss at Wisconsin, head coach Chris Holtmann was fired with assistant Jake Diebler taking over as interim. Under Diebler, Ohio State went 5-1 in its last six games of the regular season. Among those games were an upset win over national heavyweights Purdue in Columbus and a 60-57 win at Michigan State off a buzzer-beater, which snapped a one-year-long road losing streak.
Last season, OSU entered the Big Ten tournament as the 13-seed and got all the way to the semifinals, where they fell to Purdue 80-66 in Chicago. Seemingly, the Buckeyes only hope of returning to the NCAA Tournament would be a miraculous run to the Big Ten tournament title. The lowest-seeded team to win the tournament was No. 8 Michigan in 2017.
