Despite having nine chances to this point in the season, Ohio State still hasn’t been able to secure its first Quad 1 win.
Currently at No. 37 in the NET rankings as of Tuesday, the Buckeyes are the highest-rated team without a victory against a Quad 1 team. The next closest team in the NET rankings without a Quad 1 win is No. 48 Miami (Ohio), which hasn’t had an opportunity yet.
To find a team with five or more chances against Quad 1 opponents and no wins this season, you have to go as far down as No. 83 Dayton, which has five losses in five tries.
Ohio State’s most recent chance was a 66-60 loss at Michigan State on Sunday in which junior forward Devin Royal was out with an illness and sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. and senior forward Brandon Noel both remained out with injuries.
Head coach Jake Diebler said on Tuesday that the Buckeyes have had some bad luck this season when it comes to players needing to miss time, but there has been some good news recently in terms of them possibly being able to get back on the court.
“We’ve been dealt a tough hand with some injuries and sickness and all of that stuff, but I think we’re starting to turn a corner with some of this and trending in a positive direction,” Diebler said. “Better late than never.”
Diebler said that Mobley is day-to-day with a finger injury and that they will be able to evaluate Noel’s timeline better at the end of this week.
But the Buckeyes have two opportunities this week to earn their first Quad 1 win, going on the road on Wednesday to play Iowa before hosting No. 8 Purdue at the Schottenstein Center on March 1.
Diebler said the Buckeyes are well aware of their situation and how much those games would mean for them to win, but he isn’t talking to his players about needing to win a Quad 1 win when they’re going into games.
“I don’t think getting that specific before we go out on the floor adds any value,” Diebler said. “I think our guys know that right now, every win is important. They know that there are big wins available. Our focus right now is beating Iowa, that’s it.”
Ohio State could retroactively get multiple Quad 1 wins depending on how Wisconsin and Northwestern do going forward. The Badgers, who OSU beat at home, are at No. 32 in the NET rankings and would need to crack the top 30, while the Wildcats are No. 79 and would need to crack the top 75 since the Buckeyes beat them on the road.
“I also know that there’s a reality that in a week, we could have two Quad 1 wins,” Diebler said. “There’s a few teams that are really close to shifting around. We control what we can control. … But trust me, there’s a couple of teams I’m rooting for a little bit harder than others.”
To finish the regular season, Wisconsin first goes to the West Coast to play Oregon on Wednesday and Washington on Saturday. The Badgers then host Maryland before taking on Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind.
Northwestern has three more regular season games, one against Indiana on the road and two home games against Oregon and Purdue.
But for now, the Buckeyes are on the outside looking in when it comes to making the NCAA Tournament according to bracketmatrix.com, which has them as one of the first four teams out of the bracket.
