Postgame Notes: No. 7 Ohio State 54, No. 2 Michigan State 81 – Ohio State Buckeyes

March 11, 2016

POSTGAME NOTES
No. 7 Ohio State 54 (20-13), No. 2 Michigan State 81 (26-5)
March 11, 2016
Bankers Life Fieldhouse

GAME/SERIES

Michigan State leads the overall series with the Buckeyes, 67-55.
Ohio State is 3-4 in neutral court matchups against Michigan State, all meetings coming during the Big Ten Tournament.
Ohio State is 26-12 all time in BTT play since the event began in 1998.
This is Ohio State’s 104^th season as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes are 795-701 against the current alignment of the conference.

TEAM

This is the first time in the Ohio State-Michigan State series in the BTT that a team has won back-to-back meetings.
This is Ohio State’s eighth matchup against an AP Top 10 team this season (Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland (2) and Michigan State (3)). Ohio State is 2-6 in those games.
Ohio State tallied six blocked shots against Michigan State, the most since an 82-70 win on March 14, 2009 in the BTT when the Buckeyes also rejected the Spartans six times.
The Buckeyes failed to make a three-pointer in the first half (0-4) for only the second time this season. The other came in a 66-44 win vs. Mercer on Dec. 22, 2015 when Ohio State was 0-9 in the first half from three-point range.
Ohio State was 1-11 (.090) from the three-point line for the game, the fewest made and lowest percentage of three-pointers on the year. The previous low was in a 66-44 win vs. Mercer shooting 3-22 (.136).
As the lower seed in BTT games, the Buckeyes are now 6-10 all time.
Ohio State was outrebounded 40-29 (-11), the largest rebounding disadvantage on the season.

Thad Matta is 319-107 during his career at Ohio State and 421-138 overall as a head coach.
Matta is 2-4 when facing the Spartans in the BTT and 11-15 overall.
The Buckeyes have played more games (31), tallied more wins (23) and garnered a higher winning percentage (.767) in the BTT than any other league school since Matta took control 12 years ago.
Matta is 23-8 in the BTT and is 166-75 coaching the Buckeyes vs. league members overall.
Matta is 61-21 in the month of March coaching the Buckeyes.