Michigan guard Trey Burke (3) and forward Jordan Morgan, right, defend Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger, center, in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, in Ann Arbor, Mich. Michigan won 56-51. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Thad Matta’s Buckeyes fell in the rankings for a second-straight week, dropping to eighth in the Associated Press and ninth in the USA Today/ESPN top 25 college basketball polls after then-No. 6 Ohio State lost in frustrating fashion to then-No. 17 Michigan, 56-51, Saturday night.

Ohio State, which was ranked as high as No. 2 in the AP poll for five weeks from late November through December and appeared to be a lock for a No. 1-seed in the NCAA tournament, would likely be a No. 3-seed now if the season ended today.

Luckily, the season doesn’t end today as there are still four regular-season games left, and there’s still the possibility of a Big Ten title. But that will only happen if Matta can right the ship.

Against Michigan, My Pick to Click, Deshaun Thomas, posted his first career double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds while Jared Sullinger added 14 points and eight boards. Unfortunately, those were the only two that showed up.

The other three starters – William Buford, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and Aaron Craft, added 12 points on 5-of-21 shooting from the field. Four reserves that played 21 minutes combined (Shannon Scott, Amir Williams, Evan Ravenel, and Sam Thompson), scored a grand total of zero points. In fact, only one of the four actually took a shot.

With limited playing time, the bench players are afraid to do anything once they’re out on the court. It’s a long season and with total lack of trust shown by Matta with his reserves, it’s coming back to haunt him.

For quite some time now I have been critical of Thomas. He’s a total gun who looks to shoot first. I was even hounding him during the first half against Michigan. I did, though, pipe down in the second half when he scored 17 of his 25 points in the final frame that kept the contest close. Maybe this was his breakthrough game. Thomas was finally crashing the boards. Granted, he’s still a defensive liability, but this is a huge improvement.

Thomas was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. The rest of the Buckeyes were 0-of-10. A team like Ohio State needs to pound the orange inside, especially when you have a size advantage in the post.

Back in November when the Buckeyes throttled Duke by 22 points, Ohio State looked like a legitimate national title contender. Unless there are some major changes made by both the coaches and the players going forward, just getting to the Sweet 16 will be a tall task.

Up next, Ohio State returns home to host Illinois, Tuesday night. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPN.

The AP top 25 college poll: 1. Kentucky, 2. Syracuse, 3. Missouri, 4. Kansas, 5. Duke, 6. Michigan State, 7. North Carolina, 8. Ohio State, 9. Georgetown, 10. Marquette, 11. Michigan, 12. Florida, 13. Baylor, 14. Murray State, 15. Florida State, 16. Wisconsin, 17. Louisville, 18. New Mexico, 19. Wichita State, 20. Notre Dame, 21. UNLV, 22. Temple, 23. Indiana, 24. San Diego State, 25. Virginia.

The USA Today/ESPN top 25 coaches’ poll: 1. Kentucky, 2. Syracuse, 3. Missouri, 4. Duke, 5. Kansas, 6. Michigan State, 7. North Carolina, 8. Georgetown, 9. Ohio State, 10. Marquette, 11. Florida, 12. Murray State, 13. Michigan, 14. Baylor, 15. Wisconsin, 16. Florida State, 17. Louisville, 18. Notre Dame, 19. Wichita State, 20. UNLV, 21. New Mexico, 22. Temple, 23. St. Mary’s, 24. Indiana, 25. San Diego State.

Ohio State head coach Thad Matta, along with sophomores Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft preview Saturday night’s game vs. Michigan. Tip-off at the Crisler Center is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPN.

The No. 6 Buckeyes enter the key Big Ten match-up with a record of 22-4 and are tied for first place in the Big Ten with Michigan State at 10-3. The No. 17 Wolverines are 19-7 overall and are currently alone in third place in the Big Ten with a league record of 9-4, one game behind conference co-leaders Ohio State and Michigan State.

Ohio State has played Michigan once already this season, winning 64-49 at Value City Arena in Columbus back on Jan. 29.

Minnesota's Rodney Williams, left, and Elliott Eliason lie on the court as Ohio State's Aaron Craft (4) dribbles and Minnesota coach Tubby Smith watches during an NCAA college basketball game in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012. Ohio State won 78-68. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien)

After a disappointing performance last Saturday, sixth-ranked Ohio State rebounded from their home loss to Michigan State by defeating Minnesota, 78-68, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Tuesday night.

Senior guard William Buford led all scorers with 24 points while adding eight rebounds and five assists to the stat sheet. Sophomore forward Jared Sullinger chipped in 23 points and eight more boards for the Buckeyes.

With 14:28 left in the first half, the game was tied at 12-all before Ohio State went on a 23-2 run capped off by a three-pointer from Sullinger that put the Buckeyes up 35-14 with 5:43 to go until intermission.

From there, Ohio State coasted to the victory.

The Buckeyes held a 40-28 advantage at the break and led by as many as 17 in the second half. The Gophers were able to close the gap down to eight twice in the final period, though both times came with just over a minute left in the contest.

After shooting just 26.4 percent (14-53) from the field and connecting on a mere 2-of-15 (13.3%) from beyond the arc against Michigan State, Ohio State shot 44.6 percent (25-56) from the field and hit 6-of-19 (31.6%) from downtown against Minnesota.

Up next, No. 6 Ohio State travels to Ann Arbor to take on No. 17 Michigan, Saturday night. Tip-off at the Crisler Center is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on ESPN.

The Wolverines are 19-7 overall and are currently alone in third place in the Big Ten with a league record of 9-4, one game behind conference co-leaders Ohio State and Michigan State. Michigan is 6-4 in their last 10 games and have won two-straight, securing victories over Nebraska and Illinois.

As of press time, Michigan is ranked 14th in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) with a strength of schedule of 11 and are 7-5 against the RPI top 50.

According to Michigan’s press guide, the Wolverines uses a two-guard set offense with motion principles. In reality, though, head coach John Beilein starts four guards and there’s very little depth in the post.

Michigan has two players that average in double figures as sophomore guard Tim Hardaway Jr. scores 14.3 points per game while freshman point guard Trey Burke from Northland High School in Columbus pours in 14.0 points per outing.

Zack Novak, a 6-4 senior guard, is third on the team in scoring averaging 9.7 points per game. He’s also Michigan’s best three-point shooter at 43.3 percent and is 9-of-17 (52.9%) from downtown in the last five contests.

In the post, 6-foot-8, 250-pound redshirt sophomore forward Jordan Morgan averages 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per and will have more than he can handle having to guard Sullinger.

Rounding out the starting five, 6-foot-3 senior guard Stu Douglass averages 7.6 points per game while shooting 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Coming off the bench, Evan Smotrycz, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, averages 8.3 points and 5.0 caroms per contest.

Ohio State's Lenzelle Smith, right, shoots over Michigan's Blake McLimans during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State defeated Michigan 64-49. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

In the last meeting between the Buckeyes and Wolverines earlier this season on Jan. 29, four players scored in double figures led by Lenzelle Smith Jr.’s 17 points as No. 4 Ohio State defeated No. 20 Michigan, 64-49, in front of a sellout crowd at Value City Arena.

The Buckeyes won thanks to a relentless, smothering man-to-man defense that held the Wolverines to a season-low point total of 49, more than 18 points below their season average of 68.4.

“I’m was really impressed with Ohio [State] today,” Michigan head coach John Beilein said in the post-game press conference, taking a page from football coach Brady Hoke by omitting the word “State” as if he was confused that his team just played MAC member, Ohio Bobcats. “They’re defense this year is really good. It’s been a long time since we played them, but their defense is really suffocating at times.

Ohio State held Michigan to 35.8 percent (19-53) shooting from the field, and the Wolverines were 8-of-25 (32.0%) from beyond the arc. Settling for outside jumpers without much of an inside post game, UM was just 3-of-4 (75.0%) from the free throw line.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half as there was five ties and seven lead changes. Buford’s three-pointer with 1:05 left in the opening period gave the Buckeyes the lead for good and put Ohio State up 24-21, which was the halftime score.

In the second stanza, the Buckeyes never trailed or was the game tied at any point as the closest the Wolverines could get in the final 20 minutes was after a triple by Trey Burke pulled Michigan within a single point at 34-33 with 15:43 remaining.

Ohio State, though, went on an 8-0 run from that juncture as the Buckeyes attacked the rim more in the second half scoring on three layups and an offensive tip-in by Smith during the scoring spurt.

From there, Michigan could only get as close as seven points on two different occasions with the last coming with 5:44 to go after a bucket in the post by Morgan cut Ohio State’s lead down to 50-43.

Not only did Smith lead the Buckeyes with 17 points, but he also topped all Buckeye players with 12 rebounds and eight of those were of the offensive variety. Ohio State held an advantage in second chance points (16-7) and points in the paint (30-20). All told, the Buckeyes out-rebounded Michigan, 38-29.

“I knew that was going to be our edge, rebounding and just doing the little things,” Smith said after the game. “I stuck to that early and just got myself in a position where I could get the rebounds. We weren’t making many shots so there was a better chance of getting rebounds.”

Ohio State shot just 34.6 percent (9-26) from the field in the first half, but improved to 50.0 percent (14-28) in the final period. For the game, OSU was 23-of-54 (42.6%) from the floor, 3-of-15 (20.0%) from three-point range, and 15-of-18 (83.3%) from the charity stripe.

Following the Michigan game, the Buckeyes return home to host Illinois, Tuesday night. Tip-off at Value City Arena is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

Billy Price, a four-star defensive tackle from Austintown Fitch High School, verbally committed to Ohio State for the class of 2013 today. (Rivals.com Photo)

Billy Price, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound junior defensive tackle from Fitch High School in Austintown, Ohio, pledged his allegiance to head coach Urban Meyer and Buckeye Nation today following a weekend visit to the Ohio State campus.

Price, a four-star recruit by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, also had offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, UCLA and West Virginia, just to name a few.

While Scout does not have him ranked at this time, Rivals tabs Price as the seventh-best recruit in the state of Ohio and is ranked 130th in the nation among all players regardless of position.

Though Price will start out at Ohio State as a defensive tackle, he could later switch to the offensive line and play either guard or center.

Price is the third verbal commitment for the class of 2013 as he joins quarterback/athlete Jalin Marshall from Middletown High School in Middletown, Ohio, and cornerback Cameron Burrow from Trotwood-Madison High School in Trotwood, Ohio.