Michigan State basketball: Getting to know Ohio State

Ohio State comes to town on Sunday evening to face a desperate Michigan State basketball team. What do we know about the Buckeyes?

Michigan State basketball just suffered one of its worst losses this year on Tuesday against Iowa 78-71, so MSU needs to respond right away and not turn one bad loss into two. The Spartans will get that chance as Ohio State comes to town on Sunday for their one meeting this year. Ohio State hasn’t had the best season this year, but they still lose a legit threat to MSU.

Before the game gets here, let’s take a look at the Buckeyes season and see how they’ve been doing.

Ohio State season in review

As mentioned, the Ohio State Buckeyes are not having a very good season. They come into this game with a 15-12 overall record and a 5-11 Big Ten record. This puts them in second to last place in the Big Ten.

The Buckeyes had a very strong non-conference season, beating teams like Alabama, UCLA, and West Virginia, but things took a turn for the worst once Big Ten play began. A 5-11 record in conference play is not good. It was so bad in the eyes of their athletics program that they fired their head coach Chris Holtmann on Feb. 14. You might think this would cause OSU to struggle even more, but the opposite happened.

In the first game after Holtmann was fired, Ohio State upset Purdue at home. After that, they had a narrow loss to Minnesota on the road, which isn’t a bad loss by any means. So even though Ohio State hasn’t had the best season, this will not be an easy game for Michigan State.

Key players to watch

The Buckeyes are led by their star sophomore Bruce Thornton, who leads OSU with 16.4 points and 4.3 assists per game. He’s also been very hot recently, scoring at least 18 points in their last four games.

Ohio State center Felix Okpara is another name to keep an eye on. Felix isn’t a big scorer for Ohio State, only averaging 5.9 points per game, but his presence is felt elsewhere. He is dominant on the glass, averaging 6.2 rebounds per game. He also is dominant on defense as well, averaging 2.3 blocks per game.

The last player to watch is senior Jamison Battle. He is the Buckeyes’ second-leading scorer at 14.2 points per game. He’s also elite from 3-point range, shooting a blistering 44 percent this season.

Michigan State needs to win this game. A loss could put their NCAA Tournament streak in jeopardy, so they need to get back to their winning ways in this game. If MSU plays to their full potential, then there’s no reason they shouldn’t come away with a win.