Scarlet Sunrise: Ohio State gearing up for 'payback game' against Iowa

Good morning, Ohio State fans, and welcome to the Scarlet Sunrise. Football will always be our focus, but every day we’ll cover news, notes and analysis from across Buckeyes sports. Join us each morning to get caught up on everything you missed in the world of Buckeyes football, recruiting, basketball and more in Scarlet Sunrise.

Ohio State gearing up for ‘payback game’ against Iowa in Big Ten Tournament

After drop stepping and hammering home a dunk over Iowa freshman center Owen Freeman, Ohio State sophomore big man Felix Okpara made a mistake that tainted his 14-point, eight-rebound and two-steal performance in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 2.

A mistake that, more importantly, wound up costing the Buckeyes a chance to end their year-plus drought without a “true” road win three weeks earlier than they actually did.

Okpara’s highlight-reel dunk that pulled Ohio State within one point of Iowa with a bit more than a minute remaining was followed by his double dribble at the top of the arc with 24 seconds left.

Then came the fouling game.

Except, despite extending regulation, Ohio State couldn’t force overtime due to its inability to get a long-range shot up before Iowa fouled. Ultimately, Dale Bonner was sent to the line for another set of Buckeyes free throws with four seconds remaining and a three-point deficit at hand. He made the first before intentionally missing the second, however, neither team could corral the rebound before the buzzer sounded.

Ohio State hasn’t forgotten how that game ended in Iowa City.

The 10-seed Buckeyes aren’t ignoring that storyline, either, as they prepare to face 7-seed Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday night.

“I believe there’s a confidence factor knowing that, ‘Hey, we were in their gym with a chance to win the game,'” Buckeyes interim head coach Jake Diebler said Monday. “We talked openly about this. They beat us Game 1. An element of this game is this is a payback game.

“There’s certainly other big things at stake and all of that. But we haven’t shied away from talking about the different storylines of these games.”

Diebler was still the associate head coach and offensive coordinator during that early February meeting, which turned out to be Chris Holtmann’s fourth-to-last game as Ohio State’s head coach.

About six weeks later, the Buckeyes are practically a different team.

They’ve won 5-of-6 games with Diebler at the helm and are allowing 65.8 points per game, as opposed to the 74.9 per contest Ohio State gave up in Holtmann’s final 12 games.

The Buckeyes (19-12, 9-11 Big Ten) are forcing more turnovers and, in turn, pushing the pace in transition, averaging 12.3 fastbreak points per game during this end-of-season stretch.

Iowa (18-13, 10-10) is making an NCAA Tournament push, too. The Hawkeyes have won four of their last six games, in large part because of a surging Payton Sandfort, who averaged 20.7 points and piled up 14 3-pointers in that span. Plus, Freeman — the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year — put up 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds per game along the way.

“I think they have depth on the perimeter and on the interior, which gives them some versatility. They’re a really good team with a really good coach,” Diebler said, referencing longtime Hawkeyes head coach Fran McCaffery. “And we played them tough at their place. But I think we’re in a different place, they’re probably in a little bit of a different place.”

Diebler continued: “We’ll lean on last game to pick some things up and evaluate. They’ve already begun doing that. And we’ll evaluate that further. But I think both these teams right now have a little bit of momentum. So it should make for a fun one on Thursday.”

Jamison Battle, Bruce Thornton earn All-Big Ten honors

Jamison Battle and Bruce Thornton earned All-Big Ten honors Tuesday. Battle was recognized by both the media and coaches as an honorable mention. Thornton got a third-team nod from the media and an honorable mention from the coaches.

Battle leads Big Ten qualifying 3-point shooters in 3-point percentage with a career-best 44.0% clip. Thornton is eighth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.46:1).

They lead the Buckeyes in scoring this season and have the biggest leadership voices on the team as well.

For more on their accomplishments in 2023-24, go here.

ICYMI: Lettermen Row’s coverage of the first week of Ohio State spring football

Ohio State spring football is back. The Buckeyes held their first two practices in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center last week before spring break, and Lettermen Row was on site for each of them.

Miss our coverage? Check it out now!

• Will Howard building relationships, asserting himself as leader for Buckeyes

• Motivated Devin Brown shuts down transfer portal speculation

• Tim May: Who I’m keeping an eye on as spring practice opens

• Buckeyes quarterbacks settling in with new position coach, play-caller

• After starring in the slot, Emeka Egbuka ready to move around in final season

• Defensive observations from Buckeyes first spring practice

• Observations on Ohio State offense from first spring practice

• Quick hitters from first Ryan Day spring ball press conference

• Chip Kelly’s decision to take Ohio State OC job driven by pursuit of happiness

• Tim May: Buckeyes honing ‘skill and discipline’ to go with elite talent on hand

• What We Learned about Ohio State’s offensive line from the start of spring ball

• Tim May: Chip Kelly makes playful bid for Caleb Downs to play some offense for Ohio State, too

• New staff setup has Ryan Day feeling ‘more present with the whole operation’

• Defensive observations from Buckeyes second spring practice

• Offensive observations from Buckeyes second spring practice

• Jack Sawyer aiming to land captain role in final year for Buckeyes

• Tim May: ‘Scary’ Ohio State defense taking ‘natty or bust’ mentality into 2024

• Sonny Styles’ move to linebacker permanent, part of Jim Knowles’ long-term plan

• Denzel Burke dishes out honest assessments, setting expectations for Buckeyes

• Jordan Hancock thankful for position change, wants to be best ‘nickel’ in the country

• Ohio State defense could experiment with ‘Double Eagle’ front in 2024

• ‘He’s a supernatural athlete:’ Caleb Downs turning heads early in spring practice

• Tempo to be ‘side order,’ not ‘main course,’ of Ohio State offense in 2024

• Photos: Key returners, up-and-comers fill second Ohio State spring practice

• Three things we learned about Ohio State recruiting last week

Counting Down

Buckeyes vs. Akron: 171 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 262 days

Are you a Lettermen Row member yet?

Are you ready to get all your latest Ohio State news in one place? Become a member of Lettermen Row today. With your Lettermen Row/On3+ membership, you’ll not only have access to everything that’s happening with the Buckeyes, but you’ll also be able to peruse other fan sites within the network to hear just how rivals are feeling about Ohio State, as well. Make sure to follow along on X, Instagram and on Youtube for all the latest Buckeyes news you need to know.