# 2014–15 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team

The 2014–15 Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team represented Ohio State University in the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their head coach was Thad Matta, in his 11th season with the Buckeyes. The team played its home games at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 24–11, 11–7 in Big Ten play to finish in sixth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament where they lost to Michigan State. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated VCU in the second round before losing in the third round to Arizona.

## Before the season
### Previous season

The Buckeye finished the season with 25-10 overall, 10-8 in Big Ten play for a fifth-place finish. They lost in the semifinals of the 2014 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament to Michigan. They were invited to the 2014 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a 6th seed in the south region which they were upset by Dayton in the second round 60-59.

### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Aaron Craft | 4 | G | 6'2" | 195 | Senior | Finday, OH | Graduated/Undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft |
| LaQuinton Ross | 10 | F | 6'8" | 220 | Junior | Jackson, MS | Declare for 2014 NBA draft |
| Lenzelle Smith Jr. | 32 | G | 6'4" | 210 | Senior | Zion, IL | Graduated |
| Amedeo Della Valle | 33 | G | 6'5" | 190 | Sophomore | Alba, Italy | Signed to play professionally in Italy with Pallacanestro Reggiana |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Anthony Lee | 31 | F | 6'9" | 230 | Senior | Columbia, MD | Transferred from Temple. Will be eligible to play immediately since Lee graduated from Temple. |
| Trevor Thompson | 32 | F | 6'11" | 210 | Sophomore | Indianapolis, IN | Transferred from Virginia Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Thompson will have to redshirt for the 2014–15 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

### Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| D'Angelo Russell SG | Louisville, KY | Montverde Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Jun 7, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Keita Bates-Diop SF | Bloomington, IL | University High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Nov 18, 2012 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Jae'Sean Tate SF | Pickerington, OH | Pickerington, Ohio | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Nov 19, 2012 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| David Bell C | Garfield Heights, OH | Garfield Heights High School | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Feb 11, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR Rivals: NR ESPN: NR ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 5, 2013. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 9* 4:00 pm | No. 20 | Walsh | W 77–37 | – | Value City Arena (13,345) Columbus, OH |
| Non-Conference Regular season ||||||
| Nov 14* 7:00 pm | No. 20 | UMass Lowell | W 92–55 | 1–0 | Value City Arena (13,256) Columbus, OH |
| Nov 18* 7:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 20 | Marquette | W 74–63 | 2–0 | Value City Arena (13,233) Columbus, OH |
| Nov 23* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 20 | Sacred Heart Buckeye Classic | W 106–48 | 3–0 | Value City Arena (12,941) Columbus, OH |
| Nov 26* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 16 | Campbell Buckeye Classic | W 91–64 | 4–0 | Value City Arena (12,508) Columbus, OH |
| Nov 28* 4:00 pm, BTN | No. 16 | James Madison Buckeye Classic | W 73–56 | 5–0 | Value City Arena (14,310) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 2* 9:30 pm, ESPN | No. 14 | at No. 5 Louisville ACC–Big Ten Challenge | L 55–64 | 5–1 | KFC Yum! Center (22,784) Louisville, KY |
| Dec 6* 4:30 pm, BTN | No. 14 | Colgate Buckeye Classic | W 70–50 | 6–1 | Value City Arena (14,054) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 10* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 12 | High Point | W 97–43 | 7–1 | Value City Arena (13,012) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 13* 1:00 pm, BTN | No. 12 | Morehead State | W 87–71 | 8–1 | Value City Arena (14,578) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 17* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 12 | North Carolina A&T | W 97–55 | 9–1 | Nationwide Arena (14,585) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 20* 3:30 pm, CBS | No. 12 | vs. No. 24 North Carolina CBS Sports Classic | L 74–82 | 9–2 | United Center (19,726) Chicago, IL |
| Dec 22* 6:00 pm, BTN | No. 21 | Miami (OH) | W 93–55 | 10–2 | Value City Arena (15,018) Columbus, OH |
| Dec 27* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 21 | Wright State | W 100–55 | 11–2 | Value City Arena (15,874) Columbus, OH |
| Big Ten Regular season ||||||
| Dec 30 1:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 20 | Iowa | L 65–71 | 11–3 (0–1) | Value City Arena (15,189) Columbus, OH |
| Jan 3 3:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 20 | Illinois | W 77–61 | 12–3 (1–1) | Value City Arena (16,028) Columbus, OH |
| Jan 6 9:00 pm, ESPN | No. 22 | at Minnesota | W 74–72 $^{OT}$ | 13–3 (2–1) | Williams Arena (13,138) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 10 12:00 pm, ESPN | No. 22 | at Indiana | L 66–69 | 13–4 (2–2) | Assembly Hall (15,563) Bloomington, IN |
| Jan 13 7:00 pm, ESPN | | Michigan | W 71–52 | 14–4 (3–2) | Value City Arena (15,548) Columbus, OH |
| Jan 17 2:00 pm, ESPN | | at Iowa | L 67–76 | 14–5 (3–3) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,400) Iowa City, IA |
| Jan 22 7:00 pm, ESPN | | at Northwestern | W 69–67 | 15–5 (4–3) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (7,117) Evanston, IL |
| Jan 25 1:30 pm, CBS | | No. 23 Indiana | W 82–70 | 16–5 (5–3) | Value City Arena (17,322) Columbus, OH |
| Jan 29 7:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 16 Maryland | W 80–56 | 17–5 (6–3) | Value City Arena (14,483) Columbus, OH |
| Feb 4 6:30 pm, BTN | No. 20 | at Purdue | L 58–60 | 17–6 (6–4) | Mackey Arena (12,087) West Lafayette, IN |
| Feb 8 5:30 pm, BTN | No. 20 | at Rutgers | W 79–60 | 18–6 (7–4) | The RAC (8,003) Piscataway, NJ |
| Feb 11 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 23 | Penn State | W 75–55 | 19–6 (8–4) | Value City Arena (13,262) Columbus, OH |
| Feb 14 12:00 pm, ESPN | No. 23 | at Michigan State | L 56–59 | 19–7 (8–5) | Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI |
| Feb 22 1:00 pm, CBS | No. 24 | at Michigan | L 57–64 | 19–8 (8–6) | Crisler Center (12,618) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Feb 26 7:00 pm, ESPN | | Nebraska | W 81–57 | 20–8 (9–6) | Value City Arena (13,712) Columbus, OH |
| Mar 1 7:30 pm, BTN | | Purdue | W 65–61 | 21–8 (10–6) | Value City Arena (15,978) Columbus, OH |
| Mar 4 6:00 pm, BTN | No. 23 | at Penn State | W 77–67 | 22–8 (11–6) | Bryce Jordan Center (8,745) University Park, PA |
| Mar 8 4:30 pm, CBS | No. 23 | No. 6 Wisconsin | L 48–72 | 22–9 (11–7) | Value City Arena (18,077) Columbus, OH |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| Mar 12 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Minnesota Second round | W 79–73 | 23–9 | United Center (16,549) Chicago, IL |
| Mar 13 9:00 pm, BTN | | vs. Michigan State Quarterfinals | L 67–76 | 23–10 | United Center (17,230) Chicago, IL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 19* 4:40 pm, TNT | (10 W) | vs. (7 W) No. 25 VCU Second round | W 75–72 $^{OT}$ | 24–10 | Moda Center (13,616) Portland, OR |
| Mar 21* 5:20 pm, CBS | (10 W) | vs. (2 W) No. 5 Arizona Third round | L 58–73 | 24–11 | Moda Center (17,370) Portland, OR |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West Region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 | Wk 19 | Final |
| AP | 20 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 21 | 20 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | 20 | 23 | 24 | RV | 23 | RV | RV | N/A |
| Coaches | 20 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 25 | RV | RV | 20 | 21 | 23 | RV | 25 | RV | RV | RV |