It was easy to forget about Ohio State after a string of losses, including one at home to Iowa, sent the Buckeyes tumbling out of the Top 25.
They got the Hawkeyes back in Iowa City behind a signature performance from senior Aaron Craft.
Craft had 17 points with six assists and six steals to help Ohio State upset 17th-ranked Iowa on Tuesday night 76-69 for its third win in four games.
LaQuinton Ross added 13 points for the Buckeyes (18-5, 5-5 Big Ten), who moved back to .500 in the league after starting a surprising 2-4.
Craft had 14 of his points in the first half, and his three-point play put Ohio State ahead 66-59 with 1:17 left.
That sealed back-to-back road wins for the surging Buckeyes, who answered a loss to Penn State by beating Wisconsin 59-58 on Saturday.
“It’s huge, and it’s not big because people were doubting us or people aren’t behind us anymore. This is just big for us,” said Craft, whose defense also helped limit Iowa star Roy Devyn Marble to 4 of 11 shooting. “If there’s anything that we’ve learned from this year is that it doesn’t matter about anything that is said outside of our locker room.”
For Iowa, this might have been the low point it had avoided to this point.
Mike Gesell had a season-high 16 points to lead the Hawkeyes (17-6, 6-4), who shot just 3 of 20 from 3-point range. They lost their second straight at home and their first to an unranked opponent — and Marble and Aaron White combined for just 18 points.
“We played hard. We didn’t play well. We never really got in sync,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
The Hawkeyes clearly wanted to attack Ohio State from the perimeter. But they missed all but one of their first 14 3s, and the Buckeyes were able to manage a slim lead for most of the second half.
Iowa rallied to within 58-54 before Williams threw down a dunk off an inbounds pass with just two seconds left on the shot clock. Sam Thompson then buried a 3 for a 63-54 lead with 3:56 to go.
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