Connor Lemons
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Ohio State takes care of business at home, beating Valpo 95-73
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Devin Royal was otherworldly in the win, scoring a career-high 31 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
With another game against a top-five opponent looming, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (7-4, 1-1) needed to take care of business at home Tuesday night against Valparaiso despite being down 25% of the active roster.
They did that, beating Jake Diebler’s scrappy alma mater at the Schottenstein Center, 95-73. Devin Royal was a man on a mission, finishing with career-highs in points (31) and rebounds (15).
In addition to Ques Glover and Colin White, who are both nursing ankle injuries, Aaron Bradshaw missed his seventh consecutive game, and second since the team announced he’d rejoined team activities. Head coach Jake Diebler said on Monday afternoon that Bradshaw was still in a “return to play” progression and that he physically had not gotten to a level that warranted his return. There are now serious doubts that the sophomore center will be available on Saturday against No. 5 Kentucky, which also happens to be his former team.
On top of those three absences, it was announced on Tuesday night that senior guard Meechie Johnson has decided to take a personal leave of absence from the program. There is no timeline for his return, but Ohio State resumes classes on January 6, so Johnson would likely need to be back on campus by then to retain his eligibility.
With all of those absences in mind, Diebler went with a starting lineup of Bruce Thornton, Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart, Devin Royal, and John Mobley. It was Mobley’s first collegiate start.
Valparaiso head coach Roger Powell went with a starting five of Tyler Schmidt, All Wright (yup, that’s his name), Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro, Kaspar Sepp, and Cooper Schwieger. Wright is coming off a career-high 26-point game against Central Michigan on Saturday.
Whether it was the off-the-court stuff or the after-effects of having been thoroughly pantsed by Auburn three days earlier, the Buckeyes came out flat defensively against Valpo. The Beacons knocked down a trio of three-pointers before the first media timeout, not even five minutes into the game. Diebler’s alma mater held a 12-8 lead after four minutes inside a sleepy late-night Schottenstein Center crowd of just over 8,000 people.
Valpo wasn’t able to extend that four-point lead, and it wasn’t nearly enough to hold off Ohio State once the offense got going. Eight minutes into the game Ohio State started what would eventually turn into a 12-0 run, pulling ahead by double-digits momentarily before Valpo cut the lead back to six.
The Beacons got to the free throw line four times in the final 5:06 of the first half and went 6-for-8 from the stripe, cutting Ohio State’s 10-point lead to four momentarily before Royal and Parrish closed the half with a combined five points in the final 17 seconds of the half. The Buckeyes went to the locker room up 41-30, with Royal scoring 18 of the Buckeyes’ 41. He also had nine of Ohio State’s 21 rebounds in the first half.
By the 11-minute mark of the second half Ohio State had extended its lead to 19 over Valpo. The Beacons didn’t have the muscle or motor to hang with Royal or his accomplices on Tuesday night, letting a close game dissolve into an easy win with more than 10 minutes remaining.
Basketball was played over the final few minutes, but little of it was of consequence with Ohio State up 20 points for the final quarter of the game. After sitting most of the first half, Stewart scored on three consecutive possessions late in the game to extend the lead, including two big dunks. Royal scored just before the final media timeout to notch his first career 30-point game.
If you weren’t among the dozens of people in attendance Tuesday night or forgot to renew your Peacock subscription to watch, here were a few key moments and plays that were pivotal — or at least noteworthy — during Ohio State’s win:
The sophomore forward had picked up at least three fouls in each of his last five games and was off to a really fast start Tuesday night if he wanted to extend that streak. The 6-foot-9 forward picked up his second foul of the game 3:46 into the contest and was quickly replaced by Austin Parks. Not too long later, Parks was pulled for Evan Mahaffey, who scored moments later off a smooth feed from Thornton to cut Valpo’s lead to 12-10.
Up 19-16 with 9:40 remaining in the first half, Bruce Thornton powered his way to the baseline and tried to drop in a jumper off the glass from about six feet up the line. It was long and rolled off the front of the basket, but Thornton moved and was able to collect his own miss and kick it out to Parrish.
Parrish’s three-point try was no good, but Royal snagged another offensive rebound and got the ball to Mobley, who took Schwieger for a little dance on the perimeter before stepping back and knocking down his second three-pointer of the game. It made the score 22-16, and the possession was only possible because Thornton chased down his own miss.
With Bradshaw out, Stewart in early foul trouble, and Parks not playing particularly well the last two games, Ohio State resorted to using Royal and Mahaffey at center for much of this game. The Beacons didn’t throw their weight around below the basket, but they were able to draw a handful of fouls at the end of the first half and get to the line four times over the final five minutes, hitting six of their eight free throws. This stopped Ohio State’s 12-0 run.
Royal finished the first half with 18 points and nine rebounds, finishing just one rebound short of a double-double in the first half alone. He also came four points and three rebounds short of tying his career highs, just in the first half.
With Bruce Thornton in foul trouble, Royal turned into Ohio State’s go-to option, and Valpo had no clear way to stop him.
Royal was able to quickly register that double-double in the second half, grabbing his 10th rebound 2:15 into the second half to give him 22 points and 10 boards, at that point.
Ohio State hoisted five three-point tries in the first 2:13 of Tuesday night’s game, hitting one of them and falling behind early to a team they needed to take care of. After that, the Buckeyes were more selective with their triples and even then were still not hitting them at a high clip.
Ohio State finished the first half 4-for-13 from beyond the arc and missed the first three in the second half as well to start 4-for-16 from long range.
But Ohio State — mostly Royal, but also Mahaffey and at times Parrish — did their best work right around the basket. The Buckeyes scored 34 paint points against Valpo Tuesday night.
Prior to Tuesday night’s game Ohio State was the third-worst free throw shooting team in the Big Ten, hitting 66.7% of their tries from the charity stripe. They also shot the fourth-fewest free throws per game in the conference, averaging 19.2 attempts per game. Royal (70%) and Parrish (65.2%) were two regulars who are struggling at the line this year, but find themselves at the stripe fairly often.
It was a complete 180 Tuesday night for Ohio State, as Diebler’s Buckeyes were 23-for-27 from the free throw line. The aforementioned strugglers Royal and Parrish combined to go 16-for-17 at the line.
In three days Ohio State will travel to the Big Apple to take on No. 5 Kentucky (10-1) in the CBS Sports Classic. The Buckeyes are 4-1 over the last five seasons in the event but will be up against a Goliath of a team in the Wildcats.
Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team is No. 11 in KenPom, No. 7 in the NET rankings, and has ranked wins over Duke and Gonzaga on its resume already.
Ohio State’s game against Kentucky will tip off at 5:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
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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
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
Devin Royal was otherworldly in the win, scoring a career-high 31 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
With another game against a top-five opponent looming, the Ohio State men’s basketball team (7-4, 1-1) needed to take care of business at home Tuesday night against Valparaiso despite being down 25% of the active roster.
They did that, beating Jake Diebler’s scrappy alma mater at the Schottenstein Center, 95-73. Devin Royal was a man on a mission, finishing with career-highs in points (31) and rebounds (15).
In addition to Ques Glover and Colin White, who are both nursing ankle injuries, Aaron Bradshaw missed his seventh consecutive game, and second since the team announced he’d rejoined team activities. Head coach Jake Diebler said on Monday afternoon that Bradshaw was still in a “return to play” progression and that he physically had not gotten to a level that warranted his return. There are now serious doubts that the sophomore center will be available on Saturday against No. 5 Kentucky, which also happens to be his former team.
On top of those three absences, it was announced on Tuesday night that senior guard Meechie Johnson has decided to take a personal leave of absence from the program. There is no timeline for his return, but Ohio State resumes classes on January 6, so Johnson would likely need to be back on campus by then to retain his eligibility.
With all of those absences in mind, Diebler went with a starting lineup of Bruce Thornton, Micah Parrish, Sean Stewart, Devin Royal, and John Mobley. It was Mobley’s first collegiate start.
Valparaiso head coach Roger Powell went with a starting five of Tyler Schmidt, All Wright (yup, that’s his name), Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro, Kaspar Sepp, and Cooper Schwieger. Wright is coming off a career-high 26-point game against Central Michigan on Saturday.
Whether it was the off-the-court stuff or the after-effects of having been thoroughly pantsed by Auburn three days earlier, the Buckeyes came out flat defensively against Valpo. The Beacons knocked down a trio of three-pointers before the first media timeout, not even five minutes into the game. Diebler’s alma mater held a 12-8 lead after four minutes inside a sleepy late-night Schottenstein Center crowd of just over 8,000 people.
Valpo wasn’t able to extend that four-point lead, and it wasn’t nearly enough to hold off Ohio State once the offense got going. Eight minutes into the game Ohio State started what would eventually turn into a 12-0 run, pulling ahead by double-digits momentarily before Valpo cut the lead back to six.
The Beacons got to the free throw line four times in the final 5:06 of the first half and went 6-for-8 from the stripe, cutting Ohio State’s 10-point lead to four momentarily before Royal and Parrish closed the half with a combined five points in the final 17 seconds of the half. The Buckeyes went to the locker room up 41-30, with Royal scoring 18 of the Buckeyes’ 41. He also had nine of Ohio State’s 21 rebounds in the first half.
By the 11-minute mark of the second half Ohio State had extended its lead to 19 over Valpo. The Beacons didn’t have the muscle or motor to hang with Royal or his accomplices on Tuesday night, letting a close game dissolve into an easy win with more than 10 minutes remaining.
Basketball was played over the final few minutes, but little of it was of consequence with Ohio State up 20 points for the final quarter of the game. After sitting most of the first half, Stewart scored on three consecutive possessions late in the game to extend the lead, including two big dunks. Royal scored just before the final media timeout to notch his first career 30-point game.
If you weren’t among the dozens of people in attendance Tuesday night or forgot to renew your Peacock subscription to watch, here were a few key moments and plays that were pivotal — or at least noteworthy — during Ohio State’s win:
Stewart picks up two quick fouls and promptly takes a seat
The sophomore forward had picked up at least three fouls in each of his last five games and was off to a really fast start Tuesday night if he wanted to extend that streak. The 6-foot-9 forward picked up his second foul of the game 3:46 into the contest and was quickly replaced by Austin Parks. Not too long later, Parks was pulled for Evan Mahaffey, who scored moments later off a smooth feed from Thornton to cut Valpo’s lead to 12-10.
Thornton grabs his own miss, keeps possession alive for a Buckeye bucket
Up 19-16 with 9:40 remaining in the first half, Bruce Thornton powered his way to the baseline and tried to drop in a jumper off the glass from about six feet up the line. It was long and rolled off the front of the basket, but Thornton moved and was able to collect his own miss and kick it out to Parrish.
Parrish’s three-point try was no good, but Royal snagged another offensive rebound and got the ball to Mobley, who took Schwieger for a little dance on the perimeter before stepping back and knocking down his second three-pointer of the game. It made the score 22-16, and the possession was only possible because Thornton chased down his own miss.
With nobody down low, Valpo getting to the line
With Bradshaw out, Stewart in early foul trouble, and Parks not playing particularly well the last two games, Ohio State resorted to using Royal and Mahaffey at center for much of this game. The Beacons didn’t throw their weight around below the basket, but they were able to draw a handful of fouls at the end of the first half and get to the line four times over the final five minutes, hitting six of their eight free throws. This stopped Ohio State’s 12-0 run.
Devin Royal nearly had a first-half double-double
Royal flush
Devin’s got 18 points at the halfpic.twitter.com/ZZQpOcKE4a
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) December 18, 2024
Royal finished the first half with 18 points and nine rebounds, finishing just one rebound short of a double-double in the first half alone. He also came four points and three rebounds short of tying his career highs, just in the first half.
With Bruce Thornton in foul trouble, Royal turned into Ohio State’s go-to option, and Valpo had no clear way to stop him.
Royal was able to quickly register that double-double in the second half, grabbing his 10th rebound 2:15 into the second half to give him 22 points and 10 boards, at that point.
Buckeyes lean on muscle, not threes, to pull away
Ohio State hoisted five three-point tries in the first 2:13 of Tuesday night’s game, hitting one of them and falling behind early to a team they needed to take care of. After that, the Buckeyes were more selective with their triples and even then were still not hitting them at a high clip.
Ohio State finished the first half 4-for-13 from beyond the arc and missed the first three in the second half as well to start 4-for-16 from long range.
But Ohio State — mostly Royal, but also Mahaffey and at times Parrish — did their best work right around the basket. The Buckeyes scored 34 paint points against Valpo Tuesday night.
Money at the stripe?
Prior to Tuesday night’s game Ohio State was the third-worst free throw shooting team in the Big Ten, hitting 66.7% of their tries from the charity stripe. They also shot the fourth-fewest free throws per game in the conference, averaging 19.2 attempts per game. Royal (70%) and Parrish (65.2%) were two regulars who are struggling at the line this year, but find themselves at the stripe fairly often.
It was a complete 180 Tuesday night for Ohio State, as Diebler’s Buckeyes were 23-for-27 from the free throw line. The aforementioned strugglers Royal and Parrish combined to go 16-for-17 at the line.
What’s next?
In three days Ohio State will travel to the Big Apple to take on No. 5 Kentucky (10-1) in the CBS Sports Classic. The Buckeyes are 4-1 over the last five seasons in the event but will be up against a Goliath of a team in the Wildcats.
Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team is No. 11 in KenPom, No. 7 in the NET rankings, and has ranked wins over Duke and Gonzaga on its resume already.
Ohio State’s game against Kentucky will tip off at 5:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
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