Ohio State knocked out of NCAA Tournament by No. 15 seed Oral Roberts. Five takeaways.

Ohio State went to the NCAA Tournament with momentum, but that wasn’t enough against No. 15 seed Oral Roberts who upset the Buckeyes.

Issues closing games once again

One or two games and you can chalk it off to the game of basketball. But that’s not what we saw with this Ohio State team. Time and time again, closing out games became a real issue. For whatever reason, once the clock gets to about three minutes and below, the Buckeyes have a hard time making baskets and head coach Chris Holtmann always seemed to just consider it a part of the game.

Once again, OSU failed to score from the 2:34 mark on in overtime. It’s hard to put your finger on why, but the same shots that go down during the game cease from doing so when things are on the line. Even guys that normally hit free throws missed some key ones today that added to the misery.

This game can be a lot mental, and no matter what we hear from those that know the game, there’s no way you’ll convince me that mentally this team has it together at the end of games. You are what you are, and there’s data there that suggests a problem. It led to the end of the season today.

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