The Ohio State Buckeyes replaced Duke as the No. 1 team in the nation after winning twice last week. They have a chance to secure at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title Tuesday night when they visit the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The Ohio State Buckeyes (27-2, 14-2 Big Ten) held the No. 1 ranking for four weeks before a loss to Wisconsin on Feb. 12. The Buckeyes regained the top spot after beating Illinois and Indiana last week, and they were helped when Duke lost to Virginia Tech.
Despite their top ranking, a loss on Tuesday would give the Buckeyes a three-game road losing streak. After losing to Wisconsin 71-67 on Feb. 12, they lost to Purdue 76-63 eight days later.
The Buckeyes picked up their wins over Indiana and Illinois despite less-than-spectacular performances from leading scorer Jared Sullinger. The freshman forward played just 12 minutes against Indiana because of foul trouble and ended up with five points with no field goals. He followed that up with a 12-point effort against Illinois. Fellow freshman Deshaun Thomas stepped up in his place against Illinois and scored 22 points.
The Penn State Nittany Lions (15-12, 8-8 Big Ten) has lost five straight home games to Ohio State and 14 consecutive overall. The Nittany Lions have been scrappy at home against ranked teams this season, though, knocking off three of them.
The Nittany Lions gave the Buckeyes a scare when they visited them on Jan. 15 before ultimately coming up short in a 69-66 loss. Sullinger had a three-point play with 13.2 seconds left that ended up being the winning play for Ohio State.
I'm a basketball fan from Vancouver, Canada. Losing the Grizzlies was bitter-sweet. They sucked balls, so I never really started supporting them, but now I only get to catch games on TV.