Three days after the Big Ten finalized its tournament key, the state of Ohio meets its first opponent.
The Buckeyes face Minnesota with 13th place – who beat Northwestern with 12th place on Wednesday – in the second round, at approximately 2:00 pm on Thursday, at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The winner will move on to the quarterfinals, when he will face Purdue, fourth classified as classified, on Friday.
The Golden Gophers (14-14, 6-14 Big Ten) won their chance against the Buckeyes by defeating the Wildcats, 51-46, in their first win of the season outside the Williams Arena in Minneapolis. They conceded just two points to Northwestern in the first 11 and a half minutes of Wednesday’s game and kept Chris Collins’s group goalless after Ronnie Beran put the Wildcats ahead by seven with 4:15 to go. Tre Williams led Minnesota with 14 points. Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 11 points, and Marcus Carr scored 10 points. The winners hit 36.7 percent of the field and hit 5 out of 20 behind the hoop.
Minnesota got the better of Ohio in early January, handing Chris Holtmann’s team their worst loss of the season, 77-60. However, two major contributors to that game – center Liam Robbins (27 points, 14 rebounds) and point guard Gabe Kalscheur (13 points) – lost the first round clash against Northwestern due to injuries. Their status for the rematch with the state of Ohio is unknown.
Ohio State-Minnesota will be broadcast on Thursday afternoon on the Big Ten Network.