Yesterday the No. 5 seed Ohio State Buckeyes played their first tournament game since 2015 and they faced a dangerous No. 12 seeded South Dakota State team. The 40 minutes of action contained plenty of back-and-forth but Buckeye seniors rose to the occasion.
In the first half, Keita Bates-Diop was absolutely stunning, scoring 15 points in the first 20 minutes. While his scoring impact faded in the second half, Bates-Diop played an overall impressive game. He scored 24 points on 7-of-19 shooting with 12 rebounds, of course playing his normal solid defense.
However, South Dakota State had a conference player of the year of their own; Mike Daum gave the Buckeyes a whole lot of trouble.