Ohio State Headed To Dayton For NCAA Tournament

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Ohio State won’t have to go far to play in the NCAA tournament, and that makes coach Thad Matta happy.

The Buckeyes are headed to Dayton - a little more than an hour from their Columbus campus - for their first-round game on Friday against Siena. If they win that one to move to the second round, they could face Louisville, the top team in the tournament.

“You look at the (seeds) 6 through 11, there’s not a lot of difference,“ Matta said by telephone from the team bus as it returned from the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis. “To be in Dayton, just an hour or so away from home - I love that fact. Three years ago we were there, and our fans did a tremendous job of supporting us.“

Ohio State was rewarded with an eighth seed on Sunday, shortly after it lost to Purdue 65-61 in the Big Ten championship game. The Buckeyes improved to 22-10 by making it to the title game.

Matta declined to look ahead to a matchup with Louisville.

“The one thing I’ve learned in all my NCAA tournaments is that the first game is tough, and the second game is even tougher,“ he said with a laugh. “If we take care of our business, then we’ll get Louisville. And Louisville is a great basketball team.“

Siena got into the tournament by winning its second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic tournament title March 9, beating Niagara. It’s the fifth time Siena has made the tournament.

Matta said he had watched Siena in action this season.

“I know they knocked off Vanderbilt in the first round (of the NCAA tournament) last year,“ Matta said. “Everybody’s back. I’ve gotten to see them on TV. Any teams in an 8 vs. 9 matchup, you know you’ve got teams that can play.“

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