by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
Ohio State had a chance to avenge its first loss of the season Sunday while also wrapping up the regular season on a high note, and they did both in impressive fashion as the Buckeyes made 14-straight 3-pointers to blow past Wisconsin, 93-65.
After Jon Diebler missed the team’s first attempt from beyond the arc, the Buckeyes did not miss for the rest of the game from long range. Diebler hit 7-of-8 attempts and finished with 27 points. The 14-of-15 as a team was the best day in Division I history.
While Diebler and his teammates were draining from downtown, Jared Sullinger was making his final push for National and Big Ten Player of the Year. The freshman sensation tallied 22 points and 8 rebounds. He finishes the regular season averaging 17.3 ppg and 9.7 rpg.
The win was also special for Sullinger because it was his response to an incident after the first Wisconsin game.
From The Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Sunday wasn’t that hard to explain, though. After losing at Wisconsin, the Buckeyes were mad, more peeved than they would admit, especially Sullinger, who said he was spit on after the loss. That led to Ryan’s “All I know is, we won the game; deal with it,” quote two days later when asked about the incident, which led to 1,400 “Deal With It” rally towels in the student section Sunday and a special Wisconsin-themed pregame video created by Ohio State that ended with “Deal With It.”
Both Sullinger and Ryan claimed they didn’t see the towels. But in college basketball, emotion matters.
After finishing the regular season 29-2, Ohio State has essentially locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, regardless of what happens this week. The Buckeyes will begin the Big Ten tournament on Thursday when they will face the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota.
