Buckeyes Now

Head Coach Chris Holtmann Earns 100th Win As Ohio State Beats Minnesota, 75-64

Holtmann is the seventh coach in school history to win 100 games with the Buckeyes.

Andrew Lind

With Ohio State’s 75-64 win over Minnesota on Thursday night, Chris Holtmann became the seventh head coach in school history to win 100 games with the Buckeyes.

“Any coach will tell you that their success is directly tied to their ability to recruit good players, and players who also embrace what that coach and coaching staff preaches,” Holtmann said during his media availability on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s not just good players, but it’s players that embrace and communicate to other players what’s important to the coaching staff, our program’s culture.”

Holtmann, who is in the midst of his fifth season in Columbus, was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2017-18 after leading Ohio State to 25 wins and the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first year at the helm.

He’s also been named a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year three times, including in 2017-17 and 2020-21, when the Buckeyes went 21-10 overall and reached the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament.

Ohio State has made the tournament in every season under Holtmann except in 2019-20, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s now 100-48 as the Buckeyes’ head coach.

Holtmann now joins Harold Olsen (259 wins from 1922-46), Fred Taylor (297 wins from 1958-76), Eldon Miller (174 wins from 1976-86), Randy Ayers (124 wins from 1989-97), Jim O’Brien (133 wins from 1997-2004) and Thad Matta (337 wins from 2004-17) as head coaches with more than 100 wins in school history.

Holtmann’s overall record as a head coach – which includes stops at Gardner-Webb and Butler – is 214-133.

As for tonight’s win, it was Ohio State’s first at Minnesota since a 74-72 overtime victory on Jan. 6, 2015. The Buckeyes were led offensively junior forward E.J. Liddell, who scored 23 points to become the 60th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark. 

Liddell also pulled down 15 rebounds, helping Ohio State to a 48-22 edge on the boards and a 27-6 difference in second-chance points.

Fifth-year senior forward Kyle Young (14 points), sophomore forward Zed Key (12 points) and freshman guard Malaki Branham (11 points) joined Liddell in double-figures, while fifth-year senior guard Cedric Russell pitched in eight points off the bench. 

His contributions were needed with fifth-year senior Jamari Wheeler missing the first game of his career (143 games) with a ankle/foot injury.

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Andrew Lind
ANDREW LIND

Andrew Lind is an Ohio State beat writer and photographer at BuckeyesNow, founder of The Ohio State Uniform Database and the NCAA and NFL writer at SportsLogos.net.

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