Ohio State found itself in another tight game Tuesday night.
The Buckeyes were on the road at Penn State and down by one point with just under 10 seconds remaining after Tony Carr hit a 3-pointer to give the Nittany Lions a 70-69 lead.
But then Jae'Sean Tate received a pass from JaQuan Lyle near midcourt, sprinted toward the basket, spun back to his left hand and put a shot up over two defenders off the glass that banked in with just 3 seconds remaining. Ohio State came away with the 71-70 victory on the road.
Of course, it hasn't always worked out that way for the Buckeyes this season when it comes to close games. Ohio State has played in plenty of them, too.
With just one game remaining in the regular season — a home game Saturday against Indiana — the Buckeyes have played 17 games in the Big Ten. Eleven of those have been decided by six points or fewer. If you're doing the math, that's 65 percent of Ohio State's Big Ten games have been decided by one or two possessions.
The Buckeyes are 6-5 in said games:
| Date | Opponent | result |
|---|---|---|
| Jan. 1 | at Illinois | L, 75–70 |
| Jan. 5 | No. 20 Purdue | L, 76–75 |
| Jan. 15 | Michigan State | W, 72–67 |
| Jan. 18 | at Nebraska | W, 67–66 |
| Jan. 22 | Northwestern | L, 74–72 |
| Jan. 25 | Minnesota | W, 78–72 |
| Jan. 31 | No. 21 Maryland | L, 77–71 |
| Feb. 4 | at Michigan | W, 70–66 |
| Feb. 8 | Rutgers | W, 70–64 |
| Feb. 18 | Nebraska | L, 58–57 |
| Feb. 28 | at Penn State | W, 71–70 |
With the win over Penn State, Ohio State has now won three of its last four games in these situations. The lone loss in that period was the inexplicable collapse the Buckeyes had against Nebraska where they blew a five-point lead with 32 seconds to play.
Perhaps there's something here and perhaps Ohio State figured something out. The Buckeyes couldn't win many close games at the beginning of the season — losses to Virginia and Florida Atlantic come to mind — and they struggled early on in Big Ten play. With the exception of the inexplicable Nebraska outcome, which seemed more flukey than anything, Ohio State might be onto something.
The Buckeyes have struggled all season to build any kind of momentum, however. Ohio State has not won three-straight conference games all year, but now, after back-to-back wins over Wisconsin and Penn State, it has one final shot to accomplish that. The Buckeyes host Indiana on Saturday in the regular-season finale. A win and Ohio State finishes 8-10 in conference play and avoids the opening day of the Big Ten tournament. A loss and the Buckeyes finish 7-11 and play Wednesday in Washington D.C.
Is it a down season? Yes. But in a down year for the Big Ten, the league tournament is as wide open as ever. If Ohio State makes a run, who knows what could happen.
A run probably won't happen, however, without the Buckeyes moving full steam ahead into Washington D.C. They took another step in building that momentum with Tuesday's win against Penn State.
If there's anything we've learned about the Big Ten this season, though, it's that games are going to come down to the wire. For the most part, that's, somewhat surprisingly, benefitted Ohio State of late.
Saturday against Indiana will almost assuredly be another tight game. We'll see how if the Buckeyes have really learned from its previous experiences.
