Ohio State’s rally from a 15-point deficit for Thursday’s 72-69 victory over Penn State matched the biggest comeback in the eight-year history of the Big Ten tournament. Iowa rallied from 15 down to defeat the Buckeyes 75-66 in the 2001 quarterfinals.
This was the ninth game in which the Buckeyes trailed at halftime, and it was only the second time they came back to win.
Layups
Sixth-seeded Ohio State (20-11) became the sixth team in the conference to win 20 or more games this season. The others are No. 1 seed Illinois (29-1), No. 2 seed Michigan State (22-5), No. 3 seed Wisconsin (20-7), No. 5 seed Minnesota (20-9) and No. 7 seed Iowa (20-10). . . . Penn State junior forward Travis Parker hit a career high by scoring 21 points; his previous high was 19 against Michigan during the regular season. Freshman teammate Geary Claxton matched his career high by scoring 20 points and added a career-high 13 rebounds.
