OSU moving on from tourney loss

There’s no sugarcoating how last season ended for Ohio State, and the Buckeyes aren’t trying. Ask anyone who was part of the overtime loss to Oral Roberts, only the ninth time a No. 15 seed has beaten a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they’ll tell you that they have to “own it” and move on.

It’s the phrase coach Chris Holtmann used in the immediate aftermath of the 75-72 loss. But owning that result is tricky when most of the players who participated in the game are gone. Of the 15 players on the 202122 roster, only six were on the court that day, and of those six, one played for less than half a minute.

So, sure, a loss that statistically goes down as one of the 10 biggest upsets in March Madness history is going to fester within a fanbase. It will hang around a program to a certain degree. But by and large, this is an Ohio State team that has moved on — because one-third of the key players from that game have physically done so.

“I wouldn’t really say it’s a focus,

JOSHUA A. BICKEL/COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio State's Zed Key (left) played only six minutes in last season's loss to Oral Roberts, while Duane Washington has moved on to the pros.