Ohio State basketball’s using the Big Ten Tournament to provide hope for a better 2023-24 season

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State basketball team has won four of its last five games, including upset wins over Wisconsin and Iowa in the Big Ten Tournament to find itself three wins away from an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Now it’ll face Michigan State Friday afternoon with a trip to the semifinals on the line.

That is not a concept that anyone would have conceived even remotely possible two weeks ago when it walked off the field following a 75-71 loss to Penn State to extend its second losing streak of the season to nine. It’s a sudden turnaround that could mean everything or nothing in how to think about this season depending on how the next three days go, though actually pulling this off is easier said than done.

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The only thing that’s certain about what’s happened the past 14 days is that the Buckeyes are providing a reason for a fan base to have hope in a program that’s hit rock bottom. It’s not just about the fact that they’re finally winning games and playing quality basketball, but about who are the reasons why that’s happening.

It starts with a group of freshmen that have finally started to figure it out even if it’s a lot later than most thought they would. Bruce Thornton’s first 12 games as a Buckeye built a solid foundation to build off of averaging 10.8 points on 50.5% shooting and 47.2% from 3-point range. Then came the freshman wall at the beginning of the new calendar year. He followed up by averaging 5.4 points on 27.1% shooting and 25.9% from 3-point range over his next 10 games, reaching double figures just once. It took a 22-point outing against Michigan to snap him out of that funk and he’s since averaged 14.4 points on 54.8% shooting and 37.2% from 3 over the last 10 games including three games with at least 20 points.

Thornton’s emergence mixed with Brice Sensabaugh’s steadiness this team’s leading scorer (16.3 points per game) has helped this team starts heading toward its promising season. Chris Holtmann’s decision to completely lean into the future by also starting Roddy Gayle Jr. and Felix Okpara has allowed those two to start flashing their upside as well.

The growth of the four freshmen mixed in with a sprinkle of some of the older players trying to make the most of their final games as college basketball players have once again provided something for fans to be excited about. Even if that excitement may be short-lived.

OSU is now a team that’s playing with nothing to lose while also starting to figure out how to win at this level.

None of this matters for this season, unless they somehow completely throw a wrench in things by making it to Sunday and punching their ticket to the big dance. But every positive thing this young group does matters for what it means going forward.

A historically bad Ohio State season can just be a bump in the road for a program still taking that next step. The story of getting the program back on the right track may be starting right now regardless of how this season ends.

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