No. 11 Ohio State To Take On Indiana In Second Round Of Big Ten Tournament

In the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana (18-13, 6-12 Big Ten) overcame an 18-point second-half deficit to defeat Nebraska 72-69, meaning No. 11 Ohio State (24-6, 13-5 Big Ten) will match up with the 13-seeded Hoosiers in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Although it was unknown to head coach Kevin McGuff which team Ohio State would face in its first Big Ten Tournament game, he praised both the Cornhuskers and Hoosiers.

“They’re both really good teams and I think it speaks to the depth of the conference that they could be playing on the first day, because I think they’re both excellent teams,” McGuff said on Wednesday. “Indiana had sort of a slow start from a win standpoint. I thought they were actually playing pretty well, just not winning. But now they’ve won a lot later in the season. Nebraska is very talented. Both teams are well-coached. I think if the game could go either way, and we know we’ll have a challenge, whoever it is.”

Although the final score may not have indicated it, Ohio State was challenged by the Hoosiers throughout their 81-67 regular-season win on Jan. 22. Ohio State trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half before using a late comeback to beat the Hoosiers.

To start Big Ten play, Indiana seemed like a long shot to even make the conference tournament. The Hoosiers lost their first 10 Big Ten games before picking up six wins in their last eight regular-season games. The Hoosiers’ late-season resurgence wouldn’t have been possible without senior guard Shay Ciezki, who is one of the best scorers in the country. Ciezki is averaging 23.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Ciezki is shooting 53.7 percent from the floor this season.

Ciezki put her scoring prowess on display in her team’s comeback win over Nebraska. She scored 22 points while shooting 10-20 from the floor.

Although the Buckeyes are the much higher-seeded team, they aren’t on a hot streak like the Hoosiers. Instead, Ohio State lost three of its last five games after playing some of the best teams in the conference. Four of the Buckeyes’ last five games came against teams currently ranked in the top-25. Ohio State may not have performed at the end of the regular season as well as it hoped, but McGuff said he thinks that difficult stretch of games could be valuable for his team in the postseason.

“They all felt like crucial games against great opponents, and that’s what you see in March and in the Big Ten Tournament, the NCAA Tournament,” McGuff said, “so hopefully we can draw on that experience, starting as quickly as tomorrow.”

If the Buckeyes can beat Indiana for the second time this season, it would match up with No. 19 Minnesota in the quarterfinals, and with a win over the Golden Gophers, Ohio State would almost certainly face No. 2 UCLA in the semifinals of the tournament. However, McGuff said he is merely focused on Ohio State’s first game against Indiana. The Buckeyes weren’t aware of their opponent prior to Wednesday evening, but McGuff said his team prepared for both the Cornhuskers and Hoosiers.

“It’s tough because there are obviously so many different scenarios, but nothing really matters if you don’t have success in the first game, because you’re going home,” McGuff said. “We are really just locked in and trying to work on a little bit of Indiana, a little bit of Nebraska today as we practice and then we kind of have to see how that goes and if we’re fortunate enough to advance then we’ll look at the next opponent, but really the only thing you can do is take it one game at a time.”