Loving’s 25 points help Ohio State stun No. 8 Iowa 68-64

The Buckeyes were humbled 81-62 by No. 6 Michigan State on the same floor five days earlier in their first game without Tate.

But seemingly nothing is coming very easily for the Hawkeyes as they come to the end of the Big Ten season. Iowa and OSU combined for six turnovers before the first media timeout and kept up the sloppy play throughout the game, finishing with 30 combined turnovers.

The question now is whether or not Iowa has what it takes to turn things around heading into the Big Ten tournament.

We’re probably at the point now that Iowa should count on beating IN if it still wants an NCAA tourney destination IN Des Moines, by the way.

Iowa lost its third game in a row and fell two games behind Big Ten leader in with two games left on the schedule.

“We didn’t think we were never gonna win a game again just because Jae’Sean was out, but there is some type of confidence boost beating a team the caliber of Iowa at the time without one of our main guys”, Loving said. There hasn’t been too many times this year when both Marc Loving and Keita Bates-Diop have both been playing strong in the same game.

McCaffery admitted it’s not the sort of finishing effort he expects from a team with four seniors in the starting lineup. Ohio State won, 68-64. McCaffery said it was the most glaring defensive lapse in a game full of them. Sophomore guard Kam Williams hit two big shots in the final two minutes and finished with 11 points.

Bates-Diop recovered after Gesell drove around a high ball screen and used his wingspan to reach up to make the key block.

Tate was perhaps Ohio State’s best player this season.

Mike Gesell is no stranger to making the highlight play. “He chose to drive it. I thought he made a good play there”.

There still were 1.2 seconds remaining after Loving rebounded Gesell’s miss. Uthoff also scored 16 points but he was 5 for 14 from the field and did not score in the final 12:32.

Bates-Diop added 19 points and preserved a two-point lead for Ohio State (19-11, 11-6 Big Ten) by blocking Mike Gesell’s layup with less than 5 seconds to go. Iowa is averaging 79.3 points per game while giving up 68.6 points per game. The Hoosiers clinched at least a share of the regular season conference title with the Hawkeyes’ loss.

“This was a great win because of how we had to win it”, Thad Matta said. “We’re going to look at this as a learning experience and be better in that one”. Peter Jok had 21 points in that game and is now tied for second in the league in scoring with teammate Jarrod Uthoff at 18.8 points per game. Totals 22-54 17-22 64.

IOWA (18-12, 8-10) – Coley 3-7 4-4 10, Gustafson 8-11 0-0 16, Disterhoft 5-12 2-5 13, Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Jennings 5-14 0-0 14, Kastanek 2-5 0-0 6, Buttenham 0-2 0-0 0, Peschel 0-3 0-0 0. That’s not to suggest that the referees were calling a slanted game, mind you; OSU fans had plenty of justifiable opportunities to boo the zebras as well, including a comically bungled two/three review that cost the Buckeyes a point on a late go-ahead basket.