Ohio State basketball loses its 15th consecutive road game

It’s been a bad couple of seasons for the Ohio State basketball program. They only went 5-15 in Big Ten play a season ago and missed the NCAA Tournament. Much of the same has happened this year. The Buckeyes were looking to break a 14-game road losing streak on Friday night against Iowa in Iowa City.

Instead, it was the same old song and dance. The Buckeyes made critical mistakes down the stretch of the game and lost to the Hawkeyes 79-77. It was at least a close loss on the road instead of the blowouts they’ve had most of the season. That doesn’t help the Buckeyes in their desperate hope to make the NCAA Tournament though.

The Ohio State basketball team has now lost 15-straight road games

Ohio State hasn’t won a road game since January 1st, 2023. That was 14 months ago. The Buckeyes keep finding new ways to lose. On Friday night, it was a costly double dribble by Felix Okpara. He got called for the infraction with the Buckeyes down one with under 25 seconds left. Ohio State had to foul and they never got a shot after that.

Dale Bonner also refused to try to go into a shooting motion while the Hawkeyes were up three. Chris Holtmann was visibly upset with him about this. But the blame should go to Holtmann. He’s the head coach who should have his team prepared for moments like this. Instead, they’ve lost these types of games all season long.

I would say that the season is pretty much over at this point for the Buckeyes. Unless they go undefeated the rest of the way (yeah right!), they won’t be making the NCAA Tournament unless they win the Big Ten Tournament. I’ll eat my shoe if the Buckeyes find a way to get that done.

If Holtmann finds a way to survive another year after this, he might be a magician.