Michigan blasts Ohio State basketball to the wrong side of the tournament bubble as one program ascends and the other searches

With a chance to earn a marquee win against its rival, Ohio State instead got run off its home floor by Michigan.

Ohio State basketball coach Jake Diebler watches play during his team’s loss to Michigan on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State athletics)

COLUMBUS — Devin Royal toed the line for a pair of inconsequential free throws with 4:04 left in Sunday’s matinee against Michigan, Ohio State trailing by 20. A “Let’s Go Blue” chant started making its way around The Schottenstein Center, growing in volume with each turn, echoing off the seats that had started to empty, rendering the once-packed arena back to its natural, cavernous state.

OSU athletic director Ross Bjork wasn’t visible in his suite behind Section 223 for the first chant from the Michigan contingent. He was back in his seat when the second chant broke out with 2:28 left, and had already started making his way down to the floor by the time the last pro-blue chant started with less than 30 seconds to play in Michigan’s 82-61 win. Maybe Bjork got down there in time to hear the boos after “Carmen Ohio.”

Maybe all of it — a wasted rare packed house for an Ohio State men’s basketball game that turned into a Michigan party, the boos at the end, the lifeless effort from a Buckeye team that never led and trailed by double-digits for the entire second half — will get Bjork to consider if it’s worth keeping the program on this course.