Ohio St. @ Iowa preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 28, 2017 ) Ohio St. 72, Iowa 85

Ohio State looks to stay unbeaten in the Big Ten when it resumes conference play on the road against Iowa on Thursday. The Buckeyes notched impressive victories against Wisconsin 83-58 and Michigan 71-62 in early December before winning four of their next five games, including a 72-59 triumph against Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, to finish the non-conference portion of their schedule and hope to stay hot by beating the Hawkeyes on the road for the first time since Feb. 4, 2014.

"I look back at our non-conference as we complete it and I feel good about it," Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann told reporters. "It wasn't an easy non-conference and that's a good thing and to be 9-4 our guys feel good about it." Iowa is still searching for its first Big Ten win of the season following a 75-68 home loss to Michigan on Tuesday. The Hawkeyes fell to Penn State 77-73 and Indiana 77-64 before coming up short against the Wolverines, and hope to avoid their first 0-4 start in conference play since 2010-11 by downing the Buckeyes for the fourth time in five meetings. "Learn from it and flush this one is the most important thing," Iowa forward Tyler Cook told reporters. "As a unit we need to make sure we're picking each other up and to a man we need to do better."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT OHIO STATE (11-4, 2-0 Big Ten): Keita Bates-Diop led the Buckeyes with 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocks against Miami to move within 19 points of reaching 900 for his career. C.J. Jackson buried four three-pointers en route to 16 points and dished out a a team-high six assists against the Redhawks while Kam Williams added three 3-pointers to finish with 15 points and needs four more makes from beyond the arc to move into fifth place on Ohio State's all-time three-point list. Jae'Sean Tate added 11 points and five rebounds to finish in double figures for the ninth time this season.

ABOUT IOWA (9-7, 0-3): Cook led the way with a game-high 28 points and eight rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Hawkeyes fell behind by as many as 18 points against Michigan and couldn't recover. "We made a run in the second half but we couldn't get over that hump," Cook said. "When you get into that hole against a good team like Michigan it's going to be hard to come back." Jordan Bohannon went 4-of-7 from three-point range en route to 12 points while Luka Garza was limited to six points after leading all scorers with 25 points in his previous outing.

TIP-INS

1. Bates-Diop is averaging 21.4 points and 6.2 rebounds over his last five games.

2. Cook has scored 20 or more points four times this season.

3. Tate needs 18 points to reach 1,300 for his career.

PREDICTION: Iowa 74, Ohio State 72