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Ohio State can’t corral Georgia in 79-77 season-ending NIT loss
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State’s season ends at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs.
After Ohio State’s second-round win over Virginia Tech On Saturday night, head coach Jake Diebler made it a point to say that there would only a handful of teams left playing basketball by Tuesday night, and he’s glad that his team is one of them.
“Come Tuesday night, there aren’t going to be many teams playing college basketball still, and we’ll be one of them. And we have earned that.”
Indeed, there were just 24 teams remaining between the NCAA Tournament and the NIT, but that number shrunk again Tuesday — starting with Ohio State’s game vs Georgia.
Ohio State was without Scotty Middleton for a third consecutive game Tuesday night, as the team determined he was not prepared to play after being home with family for over a week dealing with a personal matter. Bruce Thornton was listed as questionable with a lower leg injury, but went through full warmups and did not look limited pre-game.
With a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the line for the NIT Semifinals, Diebler stuck with the same starting lineup the Buckeyes have leaned on all season long — Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Jamison Battle, Evan Mahaffey, and Felix Okpara. Second-year head coach Mike White rolled with a starting five of Noah Thomasson, Blue Cain, Silas Demary Jr., Dylan James, and Frank Anselem-Ibe.
Cain, a freshman guard from Knoxville, Tennessee, scored five of Georgia’s first 11 points as the Bulldogs took an 11-8 lead into the first media timeout. As most teams have tried to do, Georgia was putting multiple defenders on Thornton when he tried to find a screen to get himself open. The Buckeyes weren’t doing a very good job moving to get in position for Thornton to find them out of the double, and the offense sagged a bit because of it.
The Buckeyes momentarily tied the game at 15 on a Taison Chatman baseline jumper with just under 11 minutes left in the half, but Georgia outscored Ohio State 6-4 over the next four-plus minutes to take a 21-19 lead into the under-eight media timeout. Thornton and Gayle combined for two points through the first 13 minutes of Tuesday night’s game.
The teams took turns going at each other’s necks for the final six minutes of the first half, with the lead changing hands six times over the final six minutes. Demary Jr. missed a layup with four seconds remaining, but nobody boxed him out and the freshman guard was able to grab his own rebound and score to put the Bulldogs up 36-35 at halftime.
Okpara led the Buckeyes with 10 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting. Six different Bulldogs chipped in at least four points, with Thomasson leading all of them with seven on 3-of-7 shooting.
First half team stats almost identical, with Ohio State shooting 46.9% in the first half and Georgia shooting 50%. Both teams had 17 rebounds total and four offensive rebounds each. Ohio State was 2-of-9 from beyond the arc, Georgia was 3-for-11.
Georgia came out spicy hot to start the second half, outscoring Ohio State 10-2 over the first 3:09 to take a 46-37 lead — its largest of the game to that point. A screen moved Okpara onto Thomasson — not the best matchup — and the graduate senior buried a three over his outstretched arms to put Georgia up nine points, causing Diebler to use a timeout and regroup.
Shortly thereafter Georgia stretched its lead out to 12 points, which was the biggest deficit Ohio State had faced in the entire NIT. But when things looked bleak, Zed Key sparked an 8-0 run. The senior playing in his (likely) final home game grabbed the rebound off a missed Dale Bonner three and scored through contact, drawing the foul from James and completing the three-point play. After Devin Royal blocked RJ Melendez, Battle hit a three, and on the very next possession Thornton found Key below the basket for a dunk to make it 51-47 with 13:47 remaining — Ohio State cut the lead from 12 to four in less than two minutes.
The Bulldogs responded to Ohio State’s run with one of their own, going on a 9-0 run in 64 seconds to push the lead back to 60-47. Ohio State was getting a lot of good looks below the basket, but were also giving up a ton on the glass on the other end. Georgia was out-efforting Ohio State around the basket and the scoreboard reflected it.
After Georgia pushed the lead out to 13, the Buckeyes punched back, putting together another 7-0 run and making it 64-60 with 7:38 remaining. Battle — maybe seeing the sand tumbling to the bottom of then hourglass when he looked up at the scoreboard — knocked down a three in transition and then made a great cut for a dunk, which was fed from Felix Okpara for his first assist of the day.
As was the story for the whole day, Ohio State withstood Georgia’s run and then laid a haymaker on the Bulldogs in the form of a 17-0 run. After falling behind 64-53 on a Thomasson triple, the Buckeyes strung together 17 consecutive points over the next 5:01 to take a 70-64 lead with 4:50 remaining. Georgia then answered with back-to-back triples from Cain and Thomasson to tie things up 70-70, until Battle ran through traffic and slammed one down on top Cain to take back the lead, 72-70. By the under-four media timeout with 1:51 remaining, Ohio State had reclaimed a 76-75 lead.
It came down to the wire, and ultimately Ohio State’s leaky defense that plagued them for most of the evening was their undoing in the final two minutes, giving up a crucial basket to Thomasson with 34 seconds left and ultimately falling, 79-77. The Buckeyes put together an impressive run to take control late, but Georgia remained composed, punched back, and landed the final blow to end the Buckeyes’ season.
If you weren’t around on Tuesday night to catch Georgia beat the Buckeyes at home and end their season (and NIT run), here are a few key moments and plays from the Bulldogs’ second-biggest win over Ohio State in the past 15 months:
Ohio State’s biggest deficit against Virginia Tech was seven points, when the Hokies jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first few minutes. The Bulldogs matched that on Tuesday night, getting a three-pointer from Thomasson 3:12 into the game to put Georgia up 15-8 early in the first half.
Georgia was middle of the pack in the SEC this season shooting from beyond the arc, as they made just under eight per game and their 34.3% mark as a team was seventh in the conference. They got two early ones from Cain and Thomasson to put them in the driver’s seat.
With Ohio State trailing 19-15, Taison Chatman shot faked on the baseline, got a defender to bite, and then dished off to Battle below the basket for an easy layup to get the Buckeyes back within two with 9:38 remaining in the first half.
The basket also marked 2,000 career points for Battle — an astounding benchmark to reach, even in five seasons.
With Ohio State trailing 23-22 and 5:24 remaining in the game, Gayle was double teamed by Cain and Thomasson and Cain popped the ball in the air, away from Gayle. However, Mahaffey was nearby and alertly snagged the ball out of the air and flipped it back to Gayle on top of the three-point line.
Before Georgia could collect itself and re-set its defense from the loose ball scrum, Gayle tossed up a lob to Okpara, who slammed it home to give the Buckeyes a 24-23 lead.
After a Roddy Gayle dunk put Ohio State up 35-34 with 34 seconds remaining, Georgia held the ball for the final shot of the half. They forced Demary into taking a contested layup, which he missed, but nobody boxed out the shooter and Demary was able to put his own miss back in to make it 36-35 Georgia at halftime.
Jake Diebler was forced to use a timeout when Okpara got switched onto the smaller and quicker Thomasson and the Bulldogs’ guard buried a triple to put Georgia up, 46-37. It was Georgia’s largest lead of the game to that point.
After Georgia went up by 13 with just over 12 minutes remaining, the Buckeyes strung together buckets from Gayle and Thornton to get back within seven in just under two minutes.
But with the crowd roaring and feeling the momentum swinging back, Royal lunged out and fouled Thomasson shooting a three — awarding him three at the line and a great opportunity for Georgia to silence the crowd and stifle momentum. Thomasson — a 61% free throw shooter — hit one of three to make it 61-53 with 10:24 remaining.
The Bulldogs went up by 11 once again, but Ohio State used a 17-0 run to take a 70-64 lead with 4:50 remaining. Georgia got back-to-back three points to tie things up, but Thornton dropped in a scoop layup with 2:02 left to put the Buckeyes back up, 76-75.
After Bruce Thornton’s layup that would’ve put Ohio State up three went strong off the glass and came back to Georgia, Thomasson nailed a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to put the Bulldogs up 77-76 with 36 seconds remaining.
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State’s season ends at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs.
After Ohio State’s second-round win over Virginia Tech On Saturday night, head coach Jake Diebler made it a point to say that there would only a handful of teams left playing basketball by Tuesday night, and he’s glad that his team is one of them.
“Come Tuesday night, there aren’t going to be many teams playing college basketball still, and we’ll be one of them. And we have earned that.”
Indeed, there were just 24 teams remaining between the NCAA Tournament and the NIT, but that number shrunk again Tuesday — starting with Ohio State’s game vs Georgia.
Ohio State was without Scotty Middleton for a third consecutive game Tuesday night, as the team determined he was not prepared to play after being home with family for over a week dealing with a personal matter. Bruce Thornton was listed as questionable with a lower leg injury, but went through full warmups and did not look limited pre-game.
With a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse on the line for the NIT Semifinals, Diebler stuck with the same starting lineup the Buckeyes have leaned on all season long — Thornton, Roddy Gayle, Jamison Battle, Evan Mahaffey, and Felix Okpara. Second-year head coach Mike White rolled with a starting five of Noah Thomasson, Blue Cain, Silas Demary Jr., Dylan James, and Frank Anselem-Ibe.
Cain, a freshman guard from Knoxville, Tennessee, scored five of Georgia’s first 11 points as the Bulldogs took an 11-8 lead into the first media timeout. As most teams have tried to do, Georgia was putting multiple defenders on Thornton when he tried to find a screen to get himself open. The Buckeyes weren’t doing a very good job moving to get in position for Thornton to find them out of the double, and the offense sagged a bit because of it.
The Buckeyes momentarily tied the game at 15 on a Taison Chatman baseline jumper with just under 11 minutes left in the half, but Georgia outscored Ohio State 6-4 over the next four-plus minutes to take a 21-19 lead into the under-eight media timeout. Thornton and Gayle combined for two points through the first 13 minutes of Tuesday night’s game.
The teams took turns going at each other’s necks for the final six minutes of the first half, with the lead changing hands six times over the final six minutes. Demary Jr. missed a layup with four seconds remaining, but nobody boxed him out and the freshman guard was able to grab his own rebound and score to put the Bulldogs up 36-35 at halftime.
Okpara led the Buckeyes with 10 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting. Six different Bulldogs chipped in at least four points, with Thomasson leading all of them with seven on 3-of-7 shooting.
First half team stats almost identical, with Ohio State shooting 46.9% in the first half and Georgia shooting 50%. Both teams had 17 rebounds total and four offensive rebounds each. Ohio State was 2-of-9 from beyond the arc, Georgia was 3-for-11.
Georgia came out spicy hot to start the second half, outscoring Ohio State 10-2 over the first 3:09 to take a 46-37 lead — its largest of the game to that point. A screen moved Okpara onto Thomasson — not the best matchup — and the graduate senior buried a three over his outstretched arms to put Georgia up nine points, causing Diebler to use a timeout and regroup.
Shortly thereafter Georgia stretched its lead out to 12 points, which was the biggest deficit Ohio State had faced in the entire NIT. But when things looked bleak, Zed Key sparked an 8-0 run. The senior playing in his (likely) final home game grabbed the rebound off a missed Dale Bonner three and scored through contact, drawing the foul from James and completing the three-point play. After Devin Royal blocked RJ Melendez, Battle hit a three, and on the very next possession Thornton found Key below the basket for a dunk to make it 51-47 with 13:47 remaining — Ohio State cut the lead from 12 to four in less than two minutes.
The Bulldogs responded to Ohio State’s run with one of their own, going on a 9-0 run in 64 seconds to push the lead back to 60-47. Ohio State was getting a lot of good looks below the basket, but were also giving up a ton on the glass on the other end. Georgia was out-efforting Ohio State around the basket and the scoreboard reflected it.
After Georgia pushed the lead out to 13, the Buckeyes punched back, putting together another 7-0 run and making it 64-60 with 7:38 remaining. Battle — maybe seeing the sand tumbling to the bottom of then hourglass when he looked up at the scoreboard — knocked down a three in transition and then made a great cut for a dunk, which was fed from Felix Okpara for his first assist of the day.
As was the story for the whole day, Ohio State withstood Georgia’s run and then laid a haymaker on the Bulldogs in the form of a 17-0 run. After falling behind 64-53 on a Thomasson triple, the Buckeyes strung together 17 consecutive points over the next 5:01 to take a 70-64 lead with 4:50 remaining. Georgia then answered with back-to-back triples from Cain and Thomasson to tie things up 70-70, until Battle ran through traffic and slammed one down on top Cain to take back the lead, 72-70. By the under-four media timeout with 1:51 remaining, Ohio State had reclaimed a 76-75 lead.
It came down to the wire, and ultimately Ohio State’s leaky defense that plagued them for most of the evening was their undoing in the final two minutes, giving up a crucial basket to Thomasson with 34 seconds left and ultimately falling, 79-77. The Buckeyes put together an impressive run to take control late, but Georgia remained composed, punched back, and landed the final blow to end the Buckeyes’ season.
If you weren’t around on Tuesday night to catch Georgia beat the Buckeyes at home and end their season (and NIT run), here are a few key moments and plays from the Bulldogs’ second-biggest win over Ohio State in the past 15 months:
Thomasson’s triple puts Georgia up a touchdown (sorry, wrong sport)
Ohio State’s biggest deficit against Virginia Tech was seven points, when the Hokies jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first few minutes. The Bulldogs matched that on Tuesday night, getting a three-pointer from Thomasson 3:12 into the game to put Georgia up 15-8 early in the first half.
Georgia was middle of the pack in the SEC this season shooting from beyond the arc, as they made just under eight per game and their 34.3% mark as a team was seventh in the conference. They got two early ones from Cain and Thomasson to put them in the driver’s seat.
Battle reaches 2,000 career points
With Ohio State trailing 19-15, Taison Chatman shot faked on the baseline, got a defender to bite, and then dished off to Battle below the basket for an easy layup to get the Buckeyes back within two with 9:38 remaining in the first half.
The basket also marked 2,000 career points for Battle — an astounding benchmark to reach, even in five seasons.
Gayle loses it, sticks with the play to put Ohio State up 24-23
With Ohio State trailing 23-22 and 5:24 remaining in the game, Gayle was double teamed by Cain and Thomasson and Cain popped the ball in the air, away from Gayle. However, Mahaffey was nearby and alertly snagged the ball out of the air and flipped it back to Gayle on top of the three-point line.
Before Georgia could collect itself and re-set its defense from the loose ball scrum, Gayle tossed up a lob to Okpara, who slammed it home to give the Buckeyes a 24-23 lead.
Demary Jr. gives Georgia the lead at halftime
After a Roddy Gayle dunk put Ohio State up 35-34 with 34 seconds remaining, Georgia held the ball for the final shot of the half. They forced Demary into taking a contested layup, which he missed, but nobody boxed out the shooter and Demary was able to put his own miss back in to make it 36-35 Georgia at halftime.
Thomasson gives Georgia its biggest lead of the game
Jake Diebler was forced to use a timeout when Okpara got switched onto the smaller and quicker Thomasson and the Bulldogs’ guard buried a triple to put Georgia up, 46-37. It was Georgia’s largest lead of the game to that point.
Royal fouls Thomasson beyond the arc, hands Georgia three at the line
After Georgia went up by 13 with just over 12 minutes remaining, the Buckeyes strung together buckets from Gayle and Thornton to get back within seven in just under two minutes.
But with the crowd roaring and feeling the momentum swinging back, Royal lunged out and fouled Thomasson shooting a three — awarding him three at the line and a great opportunity for Georgia to silence the crowd and stifle momentum. Thomasson — a 61% free throw shooter — hit one of three to make it 61-53 with 10:24 remaining.
Buckeyes use 17-0 run to take the lead, Georgia ties it back up
The Bulldogs went up by 11 once again, but Ohio State used a 17-0 run to take a 70-64 lead with 4:50 remaining. Georgia got back-to-back three points to tie things up, but Thornton dropped in a scoop layup with 2:02 left to put the Buckeyes back up, 76-75.
Thomasson knocks down a big three to put Georgia up with 36 seconds left
After Bruce Thornton’s layup that would’ve put Ohio State up three went strong off the glass and came back to Georgia, Thomasson nailed a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to put the Bulldogs up 77-76 with 36 seconds remaining.
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