After losing three straight, the Buckeyes got back in the win column on Wednesday night in Los Angeles. The 16-13 Ohio State Buckeyes snapped their skid, beating the 14-14 USC Trojans, 87-82. They had a great night shooting, going over 50% from the field and from beyond the arc. Their star players led the way.

Bruce Thornton and Micah Parrish each scored 20 points. John Mobley Jr. had 18, and Devin Royal had 13. While the Buckeyes shot well, Ohio State was once again outplayed at the rim. They were outrebounded 20-19 and had only 24 points in the paint to USC’s 32. Another cause for concern is Ohio State only had eight points from their bench.

Ohio State has its Senior Day and home finale on Tuesday, March 4th, against Nebraska. The Bucks lost to the Huskers 79-71 on February 9th in Lincoln. They’ll end their regular season in Bloomington, Indiana, against the Hoosiers on March 8th.

Ohio State will need to win both games to keep their tournament hopes alive. They’ll also need to win a couple of Big Ten tournament games. If they do that and get to 20-13, the Buckeyes should make it to the Big Dance. That’s their path to the Tournament. It’s a narrow one, but it’s doable.

No one needs Ohio State to win their next four games more than Jake Diebler. Diebler needs to disrupt the narrative that he is just continuing the Chris Holtmann Era. Should the Buckeyes not win again this season, Diebler will find his seat is warm.

Still, it is just his first year as a head coach. He had never been a head coach before this season. He obviously had a lot of things that he needed to learn in order to become a good coach.