Ohio State Basketball, Ugly Wins Count

Ohio State won an ugly match-up against the Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday night with a great performance by Evan Turner and decent shooting from William Buford and Jon Diebler. Add in a late minute block by Dallas Lauderdale and a miss at the last second by the Hawkeyes and you have an ugly Buckeye win.

By Steve Patterson

Battle of Mid Big Ten Foes

Evan Turner looked to dish as often as he looked to shoot and he sliced up the Iowa defensive for 22 points and 9 assists. The final score was 60-58 which truly shows just how close this match-up of Big Ten strugglers was. Hawkeyes Devan Bawinkel and Jake Kelly played as well as Turner on the night that either team could have won. Bawinkel scored 24 points on 8-13 shooting from 3 point range while Kelly had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds from his point guard position.

NCAA Bubble

The Buckeyes are hoping to end up on the right side of the NCAA bubble with 19 wins overall and 9 wins in the conference going into their final game of the season against Northwestern on Sunday. If they can beat the Wildcats at home they'll reach twenty wins total with some very good out of conference wins against Miami, Notre Dame and Butler. Plus in conference wins against ranked Purdue and Minnesota.

David Lighty Needed

When the NCAA tournament starts the Buckeyes may be in need of junior forward David Lighty to finish decently in the end of the season field of 65. The team played much better at the beginning of the season with Lighty starting and playing considerable minutes as the team went on an out-of-conference run of nine straight to start the year. Do the Buckeyes want the extra help this year or do they use a medical red-shirt for Lighty and get an extra season for the forward? The final decision may come down to his ability to compete on his rehabilitated foot as Coach Matta has stated when asked about Lighty's return.