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Buckeyes fall in AP Poll following split road results

Spencer-Holbrookby:Spencer Holbrook•02/14/22•

SpencerHolbrook

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Ohio State is hanging around in the latest AP Poll. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

COLUMBUS — Ohio State had a major chance to grab two road wins in the last week.

Getting at least one of them was critical. Both would have been massive for the Buckeyes. But after blowing a late lead midweek against Rutgers, they needed to beat Michigan for a confidence booster.

And they did just that. Behind a dominant E.J. Liddell performance, Ohio State beat its rival to get past the gutting loss earlier in the week. And after an emotional past seven days, the Buckeyes checked in at No. 18 in the latest AP Poll. That’s down two spots from last week, when they were No. 16 in the country.

Gonzaga remained in the top spot after another dominant week of basketball. Auburn, Arizona, Kentucky and Purdue rounded out the top five. And five Big Ten teams are currently ranked as league play hits a pivotal final six weeks of the regular season before the conference tournament.

For the Buckeyes, the win over Michigan on the road was huge, especially after the heartbreaking loss to Rutgers on Wednesday. And Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann was certainly pleased.

“I think it was a certainly a collective effort from a lot of guys,” Holtmann said. “We responded from a gut punch the other night. I didn’t know if we’d winner or not, but I knew that we would respond the right way because of the leadership of our group. I thought, Kyle [Young], and E.J. [Liddell] and Justin [Ahrens] and Jamari [Wheeler] really led this group last couple of days.

“It’s becoming a player-owned team, which is what you want.”

The leadership for the Buckeyes will need to come up big over the next week. They’ll play three games in six days, all at home.

And they’ll do so as the No. 18 team in the country after the split results last week.

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