Ohio State Gaining Confidence Ahead of Minnesota Matchup

The Ohio State Buckeyes take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a big-time conference matchup.

Coming off a win over the No. 2 team in the country has to be a good feeling.

Perhaps what made the win so special was it came just days after firing head coach Chris Holtmann and Jake Diebler was called up as interim for the then-six remaining games.

Diebler said postgame against Purdue Sunday that the team kept a team-first mentality and were prepared to win — not keep it close — against Purdue.

“As the game went on, [the team] believed,” Diebler said.

But despite what was the biggest win since Ohio State defeated No. 1 Duke in November 2022, the Buckeyes (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) still sit second-to-last in the conference and by no means have an easy schedule coming up.

Ohio State finishes three of their last five on the road on top of playing Nebraska and Michigan at home. Not to mention the Buckeyes are on a 16-game road losing streak dating back to Jan. 1, 2023.

But if there were any time to snap that 417-day interval between road wins, it would most likely be Thursday night vs. Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Minnesota currently sits at seventh in the conference with their best wins thus far coming over Nebraska, Maryland and Northwestern.

But luck seems to be on the Buckeyes side now, as they already defeated the Golden Gophers by 10 in December at home.

In that game, the Buckeyes only allowed 11 offensive rebounds, including three to junior forward Dawson Garcia, an all-conference first-team candidate. Regardless, Ohio State found it tough to stop the near-seven footer, who posted a career-high 36 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

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Sure, it’s going to be a very different environment, especially with the homecoming of senior forward Jamison Battle, who will be returning to Minneapolis to play for the first time since his transfer. 

But the Buckeyes have a new leader, someone who has shown his emotion in how happy he was for the team - their interim head coach.

“[I’m getting] emotional thinking about how proud I was of them,” Diebler said.

The Buckeyes and Golden Gophers tip off at 7 pm Thursday night.