The Ohio State Buckeyes and the TCU Horned Frogs will meet in the March Madness showdown today at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville. This will be the first game of the 2026 NCAA Tournament for both teams.
Both teams are coming off losses in their previous matchups in their respective conference tournaments. The Buckeyes lost their Big Ten Tournament matchup against Michigan, and the Horned Frogs lost to Kansas in the Big 12 Tournament.
These two teams have had a similar run this season. Ohio State finished eighth in the Big Ten with a 21-12 overall record, including 12-8 in the conference. While they were dominant at home, winning 14 of 17 games, they went 5-6 on the road.
The Horned Frogs ended up in sixth place in the Big 12 with a 22-11 overall record, including 11-7 in the conference. TCU went 14-5 at home and 5-5 on the road. Now competing in March Madness, both teams will go in with relatively healthy rosters.
The only TCU player on the injury report is center Malick Diallo. This isn’t a new development, as he has been out since November last year. Diallo only played one game this season before it was announced that he would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
The Buckeyes, on the other hand, have two players on the injury report. Josh Ojianwuna has been ruled out due to a knee injury he suffered in February. He will miss the rest of the season after playing 23 games, averaging 7.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
The other Buckeyes player on the injury report is Myler Herro. At the beginning of the season, the Buckeyes announced that Herro will redshirt the 2025-26 season.
Jake Diebler on Myles Herro Redshirting Decision
The Buckeyes recruited Herro with the plan that he would sit out his first season. Herro is still working with the team and getting better at his game without participating in actual games. Jake Diebler explained his role on the team this season.
“Everybody’s aligned in that,” Diebler said. “He’s going to play an important role for us in preparing us for opponents. This has an opportunity to be a great, great year for development.”
“That’s something we’ve had very direct conversations about, even when we first started recruiting him. We’ve already seen him get stronger. We’ve already seen him improve, and now he can focus on doing that and focus on helping us prepare well for each game.”
Even though he’s not lacing up for the Buckeyes, Herro is helping his teammates prepare for games while he gets to soak in the experience of college basketball.
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