Story byPhil Harrison, Buckeyes WireWed, January 21, 2026 at 2:27 AM UTC·3 min readThere's still a lot of season to go, and we certainly can't take anything for granted, but the Ohio State basketball team is starting to stack some important wins together in January, the same time of contests that have doomed its NCAA Tournament hopes over the last three years. The latest is an 82-74 overtime win against a Minnesota team the Buckeyes really should beat if they want to go dancing. But it wasn't easy. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOhio State raced out to a 10-0 run to start the game, and it looked like it might be a fairly easy win for the Scarlet and Gray. However, the Golden Gophers woke up and started to play better defense, and that led to some scores on the other end of the court during a 16-2 run that resulted in Minnesota grabbing a 16-12 lead midway through the first half. From there, scoring became pretty tough throughout the rest of the first half.
