College basketball viewing guide: Buckeyes prep for Sparty rematch
Ohio State's win Thursday night at the Big Ten tournament made Thad Matta the school's all-time leader in coaching wins with 298.
It also set up a bigger game Friday night -- tip is at approximately 9 p.m. ET -- vs. Michigan State in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Ohio State is going to be in the NCAA tournament, but the Buckeyes could use a big win for their own confidence and potentially for their tournament seeding.
Ohio State held off Minnesota, 79-73, in a wild one Thursday night. After getting flattened last Sunday at home by Wisconsin, 72-48, the Buckeyes needed a bounceback performance and got three players in double figures vs. Minnesota, led by Shannon Scott's 21 points.
Now comes a rematch of a Feb. 14 game in East Lansing won by Michigan State, 59-56, on a 3-pointer in the final seconds. Ohio State wants more points, more pace and more of the game it got in beating Minnesota after such a deflating loss in the regular-season finale.
"To bounce back like that was huge, I think," Matta said. "You know, I give our guys a lot of credit. I talked to them after the game Sunday and just said, 'Look, as hard as this is for me to say this, we have to wash this game down the drain in the shower, and we've got to pick ourselves up and get ready to go again.'
"We had a couple great practices leading into this. I knew (the Minnesota) game was going to be a dogfight. I think every year I've ever been in this tournament, the first game is always the hardest one. But I'll give them credit because we got punched in the face and they got back up and fought tonight."
The Ohio State-Michigan State winner plays the Indiana-Maryland winner in Saturday's semifinal.
The best part about Friday is that there's basketball to watch all day, starting at noon. At the Big Ten tournament it starts with a Wisconsin-Michigan quarterfinal at noon ET.
Other Ohio teams in action Friday...
**Xavier plays Georgetown in the second Big East semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is at approximately 9:30 p.m. and the game airs on FOX Sports 1.
**The MAC semifinals are Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Toledo plays top-seeded Central Michigan at 6:30. Thirty minutes following, Buffalo plays Akron, which has already won three games this week to advance to the semifinals.
**Second-seeded Dayton plays St. Bonaventure in Brooklyn at 6:30 p.m. in at Atlantic 10 quarterfinal.
**Cincinnati is the No. 3 seed but UConn is the home team in an AAC quarterfinal in Hartford. That game tips at approximately 9:30.
Looking ahead to next weekend, Ohio State can not play in Columbus as the host school. The Buckeyes could play in Louisville or Pittsburgh if the committee opts to keep them close. Xavier, Cincinnati and Dayton could play in Columbus or Louisville along the same lines.
Games in Louisville are next Thursday and Saturday. Columbus games are Friday and Sunday.
