It is well documented Thad Matta has never won fewer than 20 games in a season throughout his head coaching career. This is Matta’s 16th year leading a program, so that is a bit of an eye-popping statistic. Never a season below the 20-win mark.
Tom Izzo can't say that over the same timeframe — Michigan State won 19 games in the 2010-2011 season. Jim Boeheim can't say it — Syracuse won just 18 games last season. Roy Williams can't say it, either, as his first season at North Carolina saw the Tar Heels win 19 games.
It's an impressive feat, no doubt, but the reality is Matta's streak could be in jeopardy this season.
As things stand right now, the Buckeyes are 14-9 on the year, sporting a 6-4 mark in the Big Ten. There’s still a long way to go in the season, yes, but Ohio State still has plenty of work to do to get to that 20-win mark.
There are eight games left in the regular-season for the Buckeyes; the Big Ten tournament follows that. Then, whatever postseason tournament Ohio State qualifies for — the NIT is the most likely at this point. All Matta and Co. need is six more victories to reach 20.
Four of the eight remaining games for the Buckeyes come against teams currently ahead of them in the Big Ten standings. Ohio State plays Michigan State twice and Michigan and Iowa one time. Three of those four matchups will be played at Value City Arena. As of right now, though, the Buckeyes have not knocked off a team ahead of them in the conference standings.
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | BUTLER | 24–8 | 11–3 |
| 2001–02 | XAVIER | 26–6 | 14–2 |
| 2002–03 | XAVIER | 26–6 | 15–1 |
| 2003–04 | XAVIER | 26–11 | 10–6 |
| 2004–05 | OHIO STATE | 20–12 | 8–8 |
| 2005–06 | OHIO STATE | 26–6 | 12–4 |
| 2006–07 | OHIO STATE | 35–4 | 15–1 |
| 2007–08 | OHIO STATE | 24–13 | 10–8 |
| 2008–09 | OHIO STATE | 22–11 | 10–8 |
| 2009–10 | OHIO STATE | 29–8 | 14–4 |
| 2010–11 | OHIO STATE | 34–3 | 16–2 |
| 2011–12 | OHIO STATE | 31–8 | 13–5 |
| 2012–13 | OHIO STATE | 29–8 | 13–5 |
| 2013–14 | OHIO STATE | 25–10 | 10–8 |
| 2014–15 | OHIO STATE | 24–11 | 11–7 |
The other four games remaining: at Wisconsin, Northwestern, at Rutgers and at Nebraska.
If Ohio State is able to go 4-4 in its last eight games — a difficult, but surely not impossible task — it would sit at 18-13 overall and 10-8 in the Big Ten entering postseason play.
If the Buckeyes can get to that mark, reaching 20 wins becomes quite a bit more likely; Ohio State would just need two more wins the rest of the way. One in the Big Ten tournament and one in postseason play would get the Buckeyes to 20 — as would a pair of wins in Indianapolis during the league tourney.
If Ohio State finishes worse than .500 over the final eight games of the regular-season, though, things could get a little bit dicey for Matta and Co. to reach that 20-win plateau. Should that happen, it would be the first time in Matta’s career — not just in his Ohio State tenure.
But this season was always going to be somewhat of a transitional year for the Buckeyes. That’s what happens when you lose a five-man senior class and an All-American who exits the program a year before many anticipated.
The freshmen that have come in have shown flashes of their potential, but they’ve also shown to be freshmen at times. The sophomores have been thrust into playing big roles they weren’t used to and it took some time to adjust. The losses were a direct result of that inexperience.
There’s still a long way to go in the season, of course, and a lot can happen over the last two months. Heck, Ohio State still has an outside shot to play itself into the NCAA tournament. The Buckeyes need to win the majority of those four key games against teams ahead of them in the league standings and can’t lose any of the other ones to even be considered.
It’s unlikely at this point, but still a possibility.
“There’s still a lot of basketball to be played; nothing is set in stone,” sophomore forward Jae’Sean Tate said following Ohio State’s 66-61 loss to Maryland on Sunday. “We can still make [the NCAA tournament], in my opinion.”
Matta reaching the 20-win mark for this season, though? There’s a much better chance for that.
“As crazy as it sounds, I’m still learning this team because in a lot of ways with this team every day is Day 1,” Matta said recently. “The hard part for these guys to understand is they don’t understand the big picture in terms of how much basketball is still to be played and how much better we can still get.”
