With two straight losses and three defeats in the past four games, crunch time has arrived if Ohio State aspires to reach the NCAA Tournament. The next test for the Buckeyes (15-12, 7-9 Big Ten) is the start of a two-game trip to California on Sunday against UCLA (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten) at Los Angeles. "It's a must-win game, so I expect us to come out and play hard and like our lives are on the line," Ohio State guard Micah Parrish said.
"We have a good group of guys who want to win and play in the tournament, so I think we will find a way." The Buckeyes looked to be in an advantageous position to earn a bid before am 86-83 home loss to No. 12 Michigan last Sunday and another in inexplicable fashion, 70-49 on Thursday to Northwestern, which had lost six of seven.
"The way we were letting our offense affect our defense felt almost like a new, young team, which we haven't been," Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. "You'd expect something like that to happen in the beginning of the season. That can't happen again, clearly.
" The Bruins were saying much the same thing about their 64-61 loss to visiting Minnesota on Tuesday. UCLA led by 17 early and 11 at the half but collapsed late to deny coach Mick Cronin his 500th career victory. "There's not much to say - it's unacceptable," UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau said.
"But there's nothing we can do about it now. We just have to focus on the next one." Bilodeau missed four of his seven free-throw attempts against Minnesota, including two wi.
