Ohio State defeats Iowa on the road, 92-81, improves to 12-4 (3-0) on the season
Geoff Hammersley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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The Holtmann era hasn’t suffered a Big Ten loss yet this season.
The
Ohio State Buckeyes were on the road on Thursday night to battle the
Iowa Hawkeyes. When all was said and done, the Buckeyes controlled a steady lead against their Big Ten foe, and won the game, 92-81. The Bucks improved to 12-4 (3-0) on the season with the win in Iowa City; the Hawkeyes now fall to 9-8 (0-4).
Keita Bates-Diop was the leading scorer in the game for the Scarlet and Gray, putting up 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting. He also had 13 rebounds and one assist. Double doubles have been a constant theme for the forward this season, and once again, he led the team on the rebounding front.
Jae’Sean Tate wasn’t too far behind him with an 18 point scoring output. Tate went 6-of-11 from the field, scoring 11 of his points in the first half.
The leader in the assist category on the night was
Andrew Dakich, who ended the games with six dishes. He had five of them in the first half. On the scoring front, the Michigan graduate transfer went 1-of-2 from the field and ended the game with two points.
Here’s how this one went down.
Iowa got on the board first via an inside shot by forward Tyler Cook. Right after the Hawkeyes jumped up 2-0, the Buckeyes’ Jae’Sean Tate hit a rebuttal layup. For the next few minutes, both teams traded blows. At the under-16 media timeout, both squads were knotted up at 12-12.
After the break in the action, the Bucks carried on a mini five point run;
Kaleb Wesson helped spark the run via a made field goal and a pair of free throws, while
Kam Williams buried a shot from downtown. Iowa forward
Luka Garza made a free throw to snap the run, however, two makes by
Bates-Diop and
Williams pushed the Buckeyes lead to 23-13.
Ohio State kept up the hot hand, and extended their lead to 12, 28-16, with 11:01 left in the first half. The next OSU scoring possession was highlight worthy, courtesy of Tate.
Eight different Buckeyes got in on the scoring action in the first half, and by the time
Micah Potter hit his first bucket with 7:00 minutes left, the visitors held a commanding 34-22 lead.
While he only had one basket in the first 20 minutes of play, guard
Andrew Dakich led all players on the floor with five assists in the opening half. By halftime, the Buckeyes as a team were leading 46-32, behind 11 points from Tate and 5 rebounds from Bates-Diop.
That 14-point lead was due in large part from only three turnovers by the Bucks. While the Scarlet and Gray were keeping the rock in their possession, the Hawkeyes had eight of the possessions swiped away. Also, Iowa was shooting 41 percent compared to Ohio State’s 55 percent from the field.
Off the bat in the second half, the Buckeyes committed two turnovers, but maintained a 46-36 lead after a little less than two minutes of play. Things started to meltdown for the Buckeyes, as Tate was called for a charge, which was then converted into an and-1 for Iowa. OSU’s lead was cut down to 48-43, but Bates-Diop put up a jumper to give the Bucks a 7-point lead inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena with 15:26 left in regulation.
After the media timeout ended, allowing action to resume on the floor, the Bucks put up four straight points via Bates-Diop. On the other end, the Hawkeyes ran into a scoring drought—they ended up going over 2:30 without putting up a point on the scoreboard. Things worked back into the Buckeyes’ favor even more as Williams hit a baseline jumper, but also drew a shooting foul from Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon. Williams, however, would miss the freebie.
Bohannon would atone for his foul by hitting a shot on the Hawkeyes’ next possession, cutting their deficit to 58-45. Now with under 13 minutes left in the second frame, a missed transition layup by
Kyle Young led to a three-pointer on the other end of the floor by
Nicholas Baer.
Not too long later, Bates-Diop put together a highlight reel layup.
But as Iowa continued to make shots, Ohio State was doing the same. After a few minutes of back and forth buckets being buried, the Buckeyes still held on to a 68-54 lead with 8:54 left in the game.
C.J. Jackson put down a three pointer to lift the Buckeyes to a 71-58 lead. Prior to that triple,
Jackson only made one other shot on the night—a layup midway through the second half.
Iowa would still continue to make free throws, mid-range buckets and three-pointers, but couldn’t climb out of the hole they were in at halftime. With under two minutes left, they got within 10 of the Buckeyes. But as soon as they got within single digits, Bates-Diop knocked down a three-pointer—sealing the win.
With the win, Ohio State comes back to Columbus and puts their unbeaten Big Ten record to the test against Michigan State on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET.
The game will be broadcast on CBS.
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