INDIANAPOLIS – The familiar name of Evan Turner popped up on Chris Holtmann’s phone in the immediate aftermath. He caught enough of the text message from the former Ohio State star – whose Big Ten Tournament championship game scoring record Duane Washington Jr. had just broken in a loss – to know the general premise. Turner wanted the fourth-year head coach to know that the loss didn’t diminish what he thought of the Buckeyes’ performance in their four-day run to the conference tournament final.
“We work really hard to make guys like that proud, and I believe that was some of his sentiment,” Holtmann said.