“Go hard or go home.”

Those were the words of Iowa senior point guard Tony Perkins on Tuesday as the Hawkeyes prepared to take on Ohio State in the second round of the Big Ten tournament Thursday in Minneapolis. 

After Illinois shattered Iowa’s hopes of a fourth Quad 1 victory back on March 10, head coach Fran McCaffery’s squad will need to do damage at the Target Center if it wants to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi listed the Hawkeyes as the second team within the “Next Four Out” category, dropping two spots from where they were last week. 

While Perkins admitted that teammate Patrick McCaffery and others will bring up Iowa’s bubble status in the locker room, the Hawkeye maintained he doesn’t pay too much attention to the subject. 

“Of course, we want to win the whole thing, but if we don’t, we at least want to get in a position to where we could make the NCAA Tournament,” Perkins said, noting the Hawkeyes would probably need two wins to secure a spot. 

The Buckeyes are the first obstacle in that quest and are a far cry from what they were back on Feb. 2 when they visited Iowa City. That day, Iowa emerged victorious, 79-77, sending Ohio State its fourth consecutive loss and seventh defeat in its last eight games. After dropping two of its next three games, the school fired head coach Chris Holtmann, ending his seven-year tenure in Columbus. 

The decision to remove Holtmann drew criticism from former coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright, but under interim head coach Jake Diebler, the Buckeyes have won five of six games, including an upset over then-third-ranked Purdue in Diebler’s first match at the helm. 

During that stretch, Ohio State yielded 65.8 points per game, four below its season average, which ranks fifth in the conference. 

“You looked at that roster coming into the season, and it felt like they would be one of the better teams in the league,” Fran McCaffery said of the Buckeyes. “Jake’s done a fabulous job, we’ve got to give him credit. The staff has stayed together.” 

Second-year guard Bruce Thornton leads Ohio State’s offensive attack, topping the team in minutes and points per game. Hailing from Alpharetta, Georgia, Thornton was named a third-team All-Big Ten honoree by the media this week. On the season, Thornton averages 16.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game. 

“He’s a handful, he’s a playmaker,” Fran McCaffery said of Thornton. “ He runs the point, but he makes plays for himself and other people. Attacks the defense and gets in the lane, finds people, can score the ball at all levels.” 

Bruce Thornton vs Rutgers
11 points on only 5 shots
5 rebounds
6 assists
🐶 pic.twitter.com/kerjjywnLh

— ohio state basketball enjoyer (@BrodieKnowsBall) March 11, 2024

Fellow second-year Felix Okpara headlines the Buckeyes on the glass, delivering 6.3 boards per game, and was called out by McCaffery for his steady improvement this season. As a team, Ohio State has the edge on Iowa in terms of combined rebounds per game and opponent rebounds per game – which can be a cause for concern for the Hawkeyes. 

In Iowa’s regular-season finale against Illinois, the Fighting Illini dominated down low, outpacing the Hawkeyes, 53-37, on the glass, including a 13-7 advantage in the offensive variety. 

McCaffery explained offensive rebounding as a combination of effort and instinct. Depending on the type of shot and the direction from which it is delivered, one has to be wary of where the ball can travel after a miss. 

Iowa will be a two-point underdog on Thursday night, per SportsLine, but the Hawkeyes have proved doubters wrong before. As the No. 5 seed in 2022, Iowa won three games to take home the hardware in Indianapolis and earn an automatic bid to the Big Dance. 

Perkins, Patrick McCaffery, and Payton Sandfort were all contributors during that run to the title, as well as a second-round exit the following year as the same seed – ironically against 13th-seeded Ohio State. For Perkins, he gives the same advice he would’ve told his sophomore-year self. 

“Honestly, just take everything out, all the anger you’ve got, the stress from school, or whatever,” he said.  “Put it towards the game. Just go out there and have fun. Play your heart out.”