Fun Facts: Iowa-Ohio State

This one counts. You can go 9-4 or 4-9 in the nonconference, but go 18-0 in the Big Ten and you've had a sweet season.

Iowa takes its first step toward 18-0 Tuesday when it plays at Ohio State.

Would you settle for 17-1? Whether yay or nay, here come the Fun Facts:

1. Iowa won at Ohio State last January, 84-74. That was despite trailing by nine points in the second half. The Hawkeyes had their best 12:29 of the season when they outscored the Buckeyes 40-21 to finish the game.

2. Those 84 points were 12 more than any other team scored against Ohio State last season.

3. LaQuinton Ross led OSU that day with 22 points. Two months later, the junior made himself eligible for the NBA Draft. He is now the leading scorer for VL Pesaro, which was 3-9 and in 15th place in the 16-team Serie A league in Italy entering today's game against Giorgo Tesi.

4. Ohio State had a player selected in every NBA draft from 2007 to 2013. Ross and Aaron Craft, who was a senior on last season's Buckeyes, went undrafted last June. Craft is averaging 6.6 points and 7.7 assists for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA D-League.

5. Iowa's game notes say the Buckeyes lead the series with the Hawkeyes, 77-76. Ohio State's game notes say Iowa leads the series, 74-72.

6. This is the first time Iowa has opened Big Ten play on the road since the 2008-09 season.

7. Ohio State is the only team in the nation with two players averaging more than five assists per game. They are senior Shannon Scott and freshman D'Angelo Russell. Scott has 100 assists in 13 games.

8. Iowa made 26 of 28 free throws against North Florida last Monday. It's believed to be the Hawkeyes' best foul-shooting game ever when they had 25 or more attempts.

9. Buckeye guard Marc Loving has made 26 of 45 three-pointers for 57.8 percent.

10. OSU was fifth in the nation in field goal percentage through Sunday, at 52.6 percent. But the Buckeyes were a total of 42-of-128 (32.8 percent) in their two losses, to Louisville and North Carolina.

11. The smallest crowd Ohio State has played before this season, home or away, is 12,500.

12. Ohio State's season ended last year in the NCAA tournament against Dayton. Iowa's season ended in the NCAA tournament in Dayton, against Tennessee.

14. Iowa's football team also ends it season against Tennessee.