Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann Has 'Thought About' Accepting NIT Invite

The Ohio State Buckeyes' NCAA Tournament at-large hopes were derailed when they lost 15 of 16 games.

The Ohio State Buckeyes' Big Ten Tournament journey came to an end Saturday, and it sounds like their season may be over for good.

The Buckeyes were on a Cinderella run through the Big Ten Tournament, which they needed to win to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Coach Chris Holtmann was asked after Saturday's 80-66 loss to Purdue about accepting an invite to the National Invitation Tournament.

"I have thought about it. We have some injuries beyond kind of what's public that make it difficult right now to be quite honest with you. We have to get some of our guys back," Holtmann said. "They're not significant, but they need to be tended to and they need some time off. So that might answer your question."

Forward Brice Sensabaugh missed each of the last two games of the season with an undisclosed knee injury, while forward Zed Key had not played since Feb. 16 against Iowa after getting left shoulder surgery to repair his labrum.

Holtmann said Feb. 27 that they were "nursing" an injury with center Felix Okpara to the end of the season. He did not go into further details as to what injury Okpara was battling.

Ohio State has appeared in the NIT Tournament nine times with its last appearance in the 2015-16 season — former head coach Thad Matta's second-to-last season. The Buckeyes were the 1986 NIT Champions.

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