The No. 16 Ohio State men’s basketball team could do nothing but watch No. 2 Michigan State clinch the Big Ten regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with a win at Wisconsin 68-63 Sunday.
Following the Buckeyes’ dramatic double-overtime victory Friday at Indiana, they set themselves to earn a share of the conference title if the Spartans lost their final game against the Badgers.
Now the Buckeyes will travel to New York City for the tournament as the No. 2 seed, finishing tied for second with Purdue and earning the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Boilermakers. Because they are a top four team, they will have a two-day bye.
Ohio State still has to wait to find out who it will be playing. If Nebraska beats Penn State Sunday, Ohio State will face the winner of the second-round matchup of No. 7 Penn State and No. 10 Northwestern. If the Nittany Lions win Sunday, the Buckeyes will play the winner of No. 7 Indiana and No. 10 Northwestern.
Ohio State will next play in Madison Square Garden in New York at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.