In all honesty, it probably reflects positively on Ohio State's place as a basketball program that the fanbase (and likely team as well) are so disappointed to play on day one of the Big Ten Tournament. Thad Matta and the basketball Bucks' recent success has raised expectations to such a point that having to "lower themselves" to watching the team play pre-Friday is a #FirstWorldBasketballFanProblem of the highest order. But that they're here, they might as well win the damn thing.

The Buckeyes tip off their 2014 Big Ten Tournament lives against a team they're 2-0 against, the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue gave the Buckeyes approximately a half between the two contests, but now could negatively impact OSU's future postseason hopes with a single upset. For the Bucks, a win could help them get their paltry offense in rhythm and hopefully get them ready for a quarterfinal matchup tomorrow against Nebraska at the same time as today's game.

Below is your Ohio State-Purdue 2014 Big Ten Tournament GameThread. We ask little of you except to be cool to one another. If you love GIFs (and if you're a Scarlet-blooded Ohio State fan, that seems obvious), please to mix things up by commenting "@oracle gif me". You're also welcome to add an image from Giphy or Google Image Search and just go nuts, really. We're Buckeyes after all.

#GoBucks #BeatPurdue

#12 PURDUE BOILERMAKERS		#5 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES
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