You’re Nuts: Was Ohio State’s win over Purdue a one-off, or are the Buckeyes back on track?
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Tuesday night’s win has improved the vibes tenfold, but Ohio State is still just 3-5 in conference play.

As we all expected, Ohio State split their two games over the past week, although it didn’t shake out exactly how we thought it would. After dropping a very winnable game at home to Indiana on Friday night, the Buckeyes traveled to West Lafayette, Indiana on Tuesday night.

Against all odds, Ohio State upset the 11th-ranked Boilermakers, 73-70, to avoid sinking to 2-6 in Big Ten play.

Instead, the Buckeyes are 3-5 in conference, putting them in a five-way tie for 11th-place. The Big Ten is doing that clogged up thing that it loves to do every year, as there’s a two-way tie for fourth-place between Oregon and Wisconsin at 5-3. That means that 12 of the Big Ten’s 18 teams are somewhere between 3-5 and 5-3.

Michigan State is the frontrunner to win the conference right now, but pretty much every other team could realistically talk themselves into a scenario where they earn a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. That includes Ohio State.

Last week, Connor and Justin debated what the Buckeyes needed to do against Indiana to snap its losing streak against the Hoosiers. Connor said get to the basket/don’t settle for jumpers, and Justin said to get Bruce cooking early. The readers were split 50-50, so we have our sixth tie ever.

After 188 weeks:​

Connor- 84
Justin- 79
Other- 19​

(There have been six ties)​

Ohio State looks to be headed in the right direction after that big win against the ‘Boilers, but at 3-5 there’s still not a ton of room for error moving forward. Does thin win mean the Buckeyes are back, or do you still need convinced?

This week’s question: Was Ohio State’s win over Purdue a one-off, or are the Buckeyes back on track? ​

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Connor: It was a one-off​

Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

At 3-5, I think Ohio State is still in a precarious position. They’ve got four tough games coming up, starting with an Iowa team that leads the Big Ten in scoring at 87.3 points per game. They’ve got four guys averaging 14 points per game or more, and all it takes is one day where Ohio State isn’t hitting open shots for them to get out-ran and out-gunned by the Hawkeyes.

Then they go on the road to Penn State and Illinois back-to-back after that. Two of their three Big Ten wins this season have been on the road, but this is a team that’s not too far removed from losing 17 consecutive road games. Because of that recent history, I’m hesitant to call road games at Penn State or Illinois easy, or even a toss-up. Those are games we should expect Ohio State to most likely lose.

After those two road games, the Maryland Terrapins come to Columbus, and we’ve already seen how Kevin Willard’s team treated the Buckeyes the first time they met.

I don’t think Ohio State will submarine over these next four games, but even splitting them 2-2 will put the Buckeyes at 5-7 in the Big Ten, which means they’re still swimming upstream trying to get their heads above water and make the NCAA Tournament.

Aside from the challenging schedule, Ohio State still second-worst in the conference in non-steal turnover percentage at 10.4%. The only team worse is Michigan, which is turning it over on their own accord 10.6% of their possessions.

The Buckeyes turned the ball over 18 times against Purdue, and still found a way to win. But it’s hard not to wonder if they would’ve won any of the Oregon, Wisconsin, or Indiana games if there was one fewer dribble off their own foot, silly travel, or moving screen call.

We’re three months into the season, and I don’t know if those issues will ever get fixed. Because of that, I think Ohio State could still tack on another few super tight losses, that they can only pin on those self-inflicted mistakes.

They may have turned a corner with the Purdue win, but I’m not totally convinced yet.

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Justin: Back on track​

I genuinely believe a win like this can completely change a season. That is why it was so important for the Buckeyes to finish that game against Purdue and actually win.

The Buckeye’s next couple of games are very winnable. They play Iowa at home, who have lost three-straight games, then travel to Penn State for a road game, and they have been inconsistent. If they can win those two games, that will be three wins in a row and two conference road wins. They will move to 13-8 overall and 5-5 in conference.

Being .500 in conference is incredibly important, because as long as they finish 10-10 in conference play and win one Big Ten Tournament game, they will make the tournament. That is a fact.

So, beating Purdue changes everything. When the goal is .500 in conference play, 2-6 is very different than 3-5, especially when the Buckeyes have to travel to Illinois in three games, which will likely be a loss. However, we have seen that anything is possible after the win at Mackey.

I think this win put them back on track, but it can all be undone next week.

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