Takeaways from Iowa basketball's win vs Ohio State: Hawkeyes advance in Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS — For the third year in a row, Iowa basketball saw a familiar opponent in the Big Ten Tournament.

Iowa was 0-2 in the previous two tournament matchups with Ohio State. The Buckeyes won by four in 2023 and 12 in 2024. But this year, that finally changed.

With Iowa leading by two and less than 20 seconds remaining, Brock Harding hit a dagger 3-pointer to put the game away.

Iowa defeated Ohio State, 77-70, on Wednesday.

For the first time since 2022, Iowa basketball has won a game in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Hawkeyes climbed the Big Ten Tournament mountaintop in 2022, winning the title by sweeping four games in four days. Since that win over Purdue in 2022, Iowa was 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament and 0-2 in the Big Ten Tournament.

That is, until Wednesday

Iowa beat Nebraska on Sunday to sneak into the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes found some magic in Lincoln, needing to win the game in order to make the Big Ten Tournament, which includes just 15 of the league's 18 teams. 

Iowa carried that momentum over into Wednesday. For the first time since January, Iowa has won back-to-back games. The last time that happened was over Nebraska and Indiana. Iowa went a while without stringing together multiple wins but has now finally broken through by beating Nebraska (again) and Ohio State.

“Earlier in the season it was like the feeling of, here we go again," Payton Sandfort said. "And that can be tough. We were giving up huge runs and that’s why we were losing games. We’d be hanging with teams for 35 minutes. We played Iowa State tough for 35 minutes of that game but they hit us with one big run and we just completely folded and ended up getting beat by almost double-digits. It takes a lot to respond to that. We’ve been getting better shots. We’ve been milking more clock and getting stops.”

With the win, Iowa will face 7-seed Illinois on Thursday.

Iowa shakes off a horrendous start en route to offensive clinic

The Hawkeyes’ offense to start the game was not a pretty picture. Neither was Ohio State’s, which started 1-of-10 from the field. It took Iowa nearly six minutes of game time to score its first points, which from a Ladji Dembele offensive rebound and putback.

But then the floodgates opened. Iowa finished the first half with 37 points, even after that slow start.

The Hawkeyes put on an offensive clinic, finishing the game by shooting 55% from the field and 42% from deep. Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort led the way in the scoring column with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

But it was much than those two. Pryce Sandfort and Harding were also in double figures. Only one Hawkeye that got into the game on Wednesday didn't score. Seydou Traore put together a very strong stretch to open the second half. Dembele grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Iowa basketball's depth makes an impact

The development — and production — of Iowa’s bench unit has been one of the more encouraging storylines lately. Notably, Pryce Sandfort scored 16 in Iowa’s win over Nebraska on Sunday.  

That unit came through again on Wednesday. The Hawkeyes crushed the Buckeyes in bench points, holding a 27-3 advantage.

Harding was the standout from that unit Wednesday. He contributed 15 points, including 3-of-3 from deep. Beyond Harding, Pryce Sandfort had 10 points. Even Brauns added two points and three assists. 

Harding delivered the blow that Ohio State couldn't recover from.

"We’ve had so many ups and downs this season," Harding said. "Guys have been hurt. Guys have been battling through everything. We’ve had some tough losses. We’ve had some big losses. Just to be able to battle, make it the Big Ten Tournament and then make it out of the first round, it just really speaks a lot about how much fight this team has.”

Iowa's defense comes through

Ohio State came into Wednesday’s game among the Big Ten’s highest-scoring offenses at 79.1 points per game.

Iowa held Ohio State far below that on Wednesday in an inspired defensive performance. The Buckeyes shot just 42% from the field and 23% from deep.

After giving up 61 second-half points to Michigan State, Iowa has responded the last two games. It allowed 68 total to Nebraska and then 70 total to Ohio State.

Hawkeyes keep playing spoiler

For the two consecutive games, Iowa might've knocked an NCAA Tournament hopeful off the bubble.

That started with the Nebraska game on Sunday. Nebraska was hovering around the cutoff and a trip to the Big Ten Tournament would've provided more opportunity to bolster their resume. But Iowa put an end to that.

Wednesday was a similar circumstance. Ohio State needed a win to feel much better about its chances on Selection Sunday. Now there's a chance the Buckeyes will be left out of the field of 68.

“We’re never going to quit," Harding said. "We know that our record’s not great, our tournament hopes aren’t great. But we know that we’re never going to stop fighting and that’s just extra motivation. Like, hey, let’s put teams in the same situation we’re in and just kinda see how it goes from there.”

Perhaps somewhat quietly, Iowa has played well in five of its last six halves. The Hawkeyes led by double-digits in the first half against Michigan State but weren't able to finish the deal in the second. Then Iowa strung together quality performances in its last two games in wins over Nebraska and Ohio State.

Unless Iowa runs the table and wins the Big Ten Tournament, it will probably be too little too late. But it's at least worth acknowledging that the Hawkeyes have put together some proficient play in the season's final stages.

Follow Tyler Tachman on X@Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com