Buckeyes impress sellout crowd
Ohio State defeats Iowa to take sole Big Ten lead with recruits watching.
Ohio State’s win COLUMBUS — against Iowa sent any number of messages about the state of the program and the hope for the future. It wasn’t lost on anybody that a group of extra-interested observers were on hand to get a first-hand impression of the Buckeyes.
With nearly a dozen recruits on unofficial visits, No. 14 Ohio State took care of Iowa with a breezy, 82-64 win that wasn’t even that close. It gave the Buckeyes sole possession of first place in the Big Ten and came in front of the first sellout crowd in nearly four years. For sophomore Micah Potter and freshman Kaleb Wesson, a pair of Ohio natives, it was basically the perfect day for the program.
“It’s about as good as it can get,” said Potter, a sophomore from Mentor. “Obviously we are still very motivated. We have a lot of work to do before the season is up and it’s very nice to be where we are, but we’ve worked very hard to get here and we’re not going to stop working.”
“Yeah, it’s just a perfect storm, kind of,” said Wesson, a freshman from Westerville South. “Everybody’s here to see it. Big recruits were here to see it, so it’s just the perfect storm.”
The Buckeyes can’t discuss specific recruits until national letters-of-intent have been signed, but the implications from such a game were clear. After winning at No. 3 Purdue three days prior, Ohio State was going to take advantage of an opportunity to showcase what first-year coach Chris Holtmann is trying to build.
Headlining the group was
Alonzo Gaffney, a five-star prospect from the class of 2019 and the top recruit in Ohio. He was joined by fellow Garfield Heights players 2021 guard prospect Meechie Johnson and 2022 prospect Sonny Johnson Jr.
They were nearby 2018 signee Justin Ahrens from Versailles, Ohio. Shortly after the game, 2019 combo guard Joe Girard from Glens Falls (N.Y.) Senior posted to Twitter that he had landed a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes.
Holtmann said he hoped the recruits on hand enjoyed a few aspects of the day.
“How can you not want to be a part of something like this?” he said. “There’s a lot of other great places, but I just think hopefully they did catch just a glimpse of what we hope to be. The exciting thing is we have opportunity in front of us with who we’re graduating and the roster rebuild that we’re going to have to under- take the next couple years, but we’ve got a fan base that’s really embraced this group. I loved the fact that our recruits got a chance to see how some of our older guys conduct themselve s and play, because I thin k that’s a great example.
“How could you not want to be a part of this? I hope they see this and really do.”