COLUMBUS - The last time the Michigan basketball team faced Ohio State, the Buckeyes were struggling through an Evan Turner-less, 3-3 stretch.

Competing for a Big Ten Conference championship looked far-fetched when Turner went down Dec. 5 in a game against Eastern Michigan. The rest of Ohio State’s players, though, never looked at it that way.

“I don’t think we really were thinking about we don’t have a shot to win it because we had a lot of games to play,” Ohio State junior guard Jon Diebler said. “Our first four out of five games were on the road, which was tough, and we knew we’d have a stretch of home games.

“Again, I think without having Evan, we were very positive that when he came back, whenever that was going to be, that we were going to have a chance to win the Big Ten.”

Now, with Michigan heading to Columbus for a noon game on Saturday (ESPN), the roles are reversed. Ohio State, at 22-7 overall and 12-4 in the Big Ten, is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Wolverines, who thought at the time their 73-64 win over the Buckeyes might catapult them out of their early-season funk, are under-.500 at 13-14 overall, 6-9 in the Big Ten and potentially four games from the end of their regular season.

Ohio State remembers Michigan’s win, too.

“All I know is they beat us, and I think that’s the big thing in our minds from that standpoint,” Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. “They’ve got some very, very talented players up there and I think from our perspective, our guys have tremendous respect for Michigan and the job we have to do to play our best basketball.”

Matta isn’t kidding.

Ohio State’s players, when asked what changes they’ve seen in Michigan from January until now, actually said the Wolverines have gotten better.

Not even Michigan coach John Beilein, who has looked increasingly exasperated with each loss, would likely say that. Tough to know, though, because Michigan canceled its media access for the second time this week, citing travel issues.

“Everyone grows as the season goes on,” Ohio State guard David Lighty said. “A lot of other players on the team are stepping up and making plays. So it just makes them more dynamic in how they’re playing.

“I’d say they are different. The first game it was pretty much Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.