In what's been a rough season for the Basketball Buckeyes, Thursday night was special. Ohio State played its most complete game of the season on both ends of the floor and upset No. 16 Wisconsin emphatically, 83-73. It was a milestone night for coach Thad Matta. He's already has the most wins in OSU history, picking up number 336 in the victory over the Badgers and now he has also coached the most games Buckeye hoops history. Thursday was game number 457 for Matta, surpassing the previous record held by Harold Olson.
"I've been counting down since the day I got here. It's been a long road but I just check them off each time," Matta joked. "Honestly, I guess that's a tremendous feat, I don't know. I kind of like the most wins more than the most games to be honest with you."
Matta has been under fire this season, with some Buckeye fans feeling its time for a change. Matta, while talking about his record setting night, took a jab at his critics.
"Dave Egelhoff (Ohio State's Director of Basketball Operations) is nervous because he just told me that it went 455, 456, 457 and he's wondering if I'm gonna show up again. I'm sure there's a lot of people that wouldn't be pissed off if I didn't come back."
Later Matta was asked if the upset victory might quiet some of the chatter about his future.
"I couldn't care less," Matta said. "I'm just going to go in and coach and away we go....I look forward to getting back in here with these guys and going to work and I'm excited. Hopefully we can build off this and play this way the next couple games."