Jared Sullinger finished with 24 points and second-ranked Ohio State survived its first real test of the season, holding on for a 73-68 victory at Iowa Tuesday night.

The Buckeyes (15-0, 2-0 Big Ten) trailed for much of the evening until a pair of layups by Sullinger set off a run of 16 unanswered points that gave Ohio State a 58-45 advantage with 8:40 to play. Jon Diebler capped the spurt with back-to-back 3-point baskets.

Iowa crawled back to within 71-68 on a 3-pointer by Zach McCabe with 21.5 seconds remaining, but Aaron Craft hit a pair of free throws and then came up with a steal at the other end to seal it for the Buckeyes.

Sullinger, who scored 14 after intermission, added 12 rebounds for Ohio State, which also got 14 points from Diebler and 12 from David Lighty.

Melsahn Basabe finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots for Iowa (7-7, 0-2).