Grant Freking
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Ohio State vs. Northwestern 2017 final score: OSU loses another close one, 74-72
Grant Freking via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The Buckeyes’ winning streak is over at two.
Back to life.
Back to reality.
After a shellacking at Wisconsin left Ohio State gasping for air at 0-6 in Big Ten play 12 days ago, Thad Matta & Co. have since explored the deepest recesses of their soul and taken the initiative. But with no room for fuss or trouble, the Buckeyes fell flat on their face vs. upstart Northwestern Sunday afternoon at the Schottenstein Center, which won in Columbus for the first time in 40 years.
After hitting the road for four of their initial six conference engagements, the Buckeyes were back home on Sunday, which is where they will play two of their next three games, too. Despite entering with some good vibrations resulting from a home victory over Michigan State last weekend and a mid-week escape at Nebraska, expectations for what will be a Keita Bates-Diop-less bunch for the rest of the season remain tempered pre-game, as Kenpom.com actually had Northwestern as a 1-point road favorite.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats came in residing in unfamiliar territory for a program that has never — repeat, never — reached the NCAA Tournament. At 4-2 in Big Ten contests, Northwestern was off to its best conference start in recent memory, but only one of those contests (a road defeat to Michigan State) had been against another squad in the top six of the Big Ten standings.
Sunday, Ohio State was its typical mix of inconsistency and contradictions through 20 minutes. At the under-8 timeout, the Buckeyes were ahead 23-19 and shooting nearly 69 percent from the field, but a bigger cushion was mitigated by five turnovers and six offensive rebounds from the visitors, who had sunk just seven of their first 22 shot attempts.
Predictably, Ohio State’s fortunes turned for the worse. Northwestern’s defense ramped up its paint-packing strategy, which funneled the hosts to the wing and encouraged poor shot selection and turnovers. Offensively, the Wildcats began to whip the ball around for clean look after clean look. Over the first half’s final eight minutes, Northwestern outscored Ohio State 17-8 and led 36-31 at intermission. The Buckeyes have now been behind at half in all but one of their seven conference tilts.
A score by Jae’Sean Tate and a transition and-1 by Marc Loving leveled the game almost immediately to begin the second half. The Buckeyes then had to rely on Trevor Thompson’s glass cleaning/free-throw shooting and the official’s whistle to stay in the game, as they went nearly six minutes between field goal makes at one juncture. Northwestern was in the double bonus with 11 minutes and 20 tickets on the second half clock.
With the Buckeyes needed bench punch more than ever these days, it was C.J. Jackson who stepped forth with the visitors threatening to seize control. Jackson’s long two and 3-pointer off a feed from JaQuan Lyle pushed the hosts ahead 55-52 with eight and half minutes to go.
The back-and-forth nature of the affair continues, with the two teams trading leads and demerits from the men in stripes, though the whistle still favored the Scarlet and Gray. The Wildcats surged ahead by with a little under four minutes to go, with Matta forced to call timeout after a lazy crosscourt pass resulted in a Northwestern layup.
Ohio State notched another turnover out of the timeout, but a hustle play by Lyle led to a clutch triple by Tate. A free throw by Tate cut Northwestern’s advantage to 63-62 with 90 seconds left.
Wildcat point guard Bryant McIntosh cooly hit a pair of freebies to increase his team’s lead to 65-62 a few seconds later, though. Sanjay Lumpkin added two more free throws after Lyle couldn’t convert a shot in the lane. Kam Williams couldn’t convert a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.
Ohio State inched to within 70-68 late with triples from Lyle and Micah Potter. Vic Law’s two free throws with 17.6 seconds seemingly sealed the game, but a potential and-1 putback from Loving allowed for hope to re-emerge. However, Loving missed the free throw, and the Wildcats held on thanks to two free throws from Scottie Lindsey.
3 things we learned:
1. Ohio State can still salvage its season. Ohio State’s next five games: home vs. Minnesota; at Iowa; home vs. Maryland; at Michigan; and home vs. Rutgers. All five of those contests are very winnable.
With the potential for signature wins over its final six conference forays plus the opportunity to manufacture mayhem in the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State’s pathway to 20ish wins and a ticket to the Big Dance is right in front of it — all the Buckeyes need is one of those once-familiar late-season surges from yesteryear.
2. The rise of Trevor Thompson continues. The junior centered continued his strong play Sunday, notching his ninth career double-double. Thompson posted up hard, and didn’t get frustrated when the ball didn’t come his way. He again did yeoman’s work on the boards, the most notable example came early in the second half when Thompson corralled a pair of tough offensive rebounds to keep a possession alive/draw a foul.
Entering Sunday, Thompson was averaging nearly 11 points and nine rebounds per game this year, up from 6.5 points and 5.1 boards a year ago. Thompson has improved his shooting percentage to nearly 60 percent, he’s reliable from the line (74 percent), and he’s averaging nearly two blocks per game. Fouls remain an issue, but kudos to Thompson and the coaching staff for the junior center’s big leap forward this season.
3. Marc Loving and JaQuan Lyle can’t have off-games at the same time. Through nearly the first 30 minutes, Ohio State’s two best (active) all-around talents were delivering relative stinkers.
Loving, who has emerged as Ohio State’s most consistent player, struggled mightily in the first half and delivered a doughnut on the scoring sheet. Lyle was taken out of the flow of the game immediately as he picked up a pair of fouls just over two minutes into the game. It seemed as Northwestern’s paint-packing defense adversely affected both players, as Loving and Lyle combined to go 2-of-7 from the field with four turnovers through intermission.
Loving and Lyle improved their play in the second half, but both players still left something to be desired.
Continue reading...
Grant Freking via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The Buckeyes’ winning streak is over at two.
Back to life.
Back to reality.
After a shellacking at Wisconsin left Ohio State gasping for air at 0-6 in Big Ten play 12 days ago, Thad Matta & Co. have since explored the deepest recesses of their soul and taken the initiative. But with no room for fuss or trouble, the Buckeyes fell flat on their face vs. upstart Northwestern Sunday afternoon at the Schottenstein Center, which won in Columbus for the first time in 40 years.
After hitting the road for four of their initial six conference engagements, the Buckeyes were back home on Sunday, which is where they will play two of their next three games, too. Despite entering with some good vibrations resulting from a home victory over Michigan State last weekend and a mid-week escape at Nebraska, expectations for what will be a Keita Bates-Diop-less bunch for the rest of the season remain tempered pre-game, as Kenpom.com actually had Northwestern as a 1-point road favorite.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats came in residing in unfamiliar territory for a program that has never — repeat, never — reached the NCAA Tournament. At 4-2 in Big Ten contests, Northwestern was off to its best conference start in recent memory, but only one of those contests (a road defeat to Michigan State) had been against another squad in the top six of the Big Ten standings.
Sunday, Ohio State was its typical mix of inconsistency and contradictions through 20 minutes. At the under-8 timeout, the Buckeyes were ahead 23-19 and shooting nearly 69 percent from the field, but a bigger cushion was mitigated by five turnovers and six offensive rebounds from the visitors, who had sunk just seven of their first 22 shot attempts.
Predictably, Ohio State’s fortunes turned for the worse. Northwestern’s defense ramped up its paint-packing strategy, which funneled the hosts to the wing and encouraged poor shot selection and turnovers. Offensively, the Wildcats began to whip the ball around for clean look after clean look. Over the first half’s final eight minutes, Northwestern outscored Ohio State 17-8 and led 36-31 at intermission. The Buckeyes have now been behind at half in all but one of their seven conference tilts.
A score by Jae’Sean Tate and a transition and-1 by Marc Loving leveled the game almost immediately to begin the second half. The Buckeyes then had to rely on Trevor Thompson’s glass cleaning/free-throw shooting and the official’s whistle to stay in the game, as they went nearly six minutes between field goal makes at one juncture. Northwestern was in the double bonus with 11 minutes and 20 tickets on the second half clock.
With the Buckeyes needed bench punch more than ever these days, it was C.J. Jackson who stepped forth with the visitors threatening to seize control. Jackson’s long two and 3-pointer off a feed from JaQuan Lyle pushed the hosts ahead 55-52 with eight and half minutes to go.
The back-and-forth nature of the affair continues, with the two teams trading leads and demerits from the men in stripes, though the whistle still favored the Scarlet and Gray. The Wildcats surged ahead by with a little under four minutes to go, with Matta forced to call timeout after a lazy crosscourt pass resulted in a Northwestern layup.
Ohio State notched another turnover out of the timeout, but a hustle play by Lyle led to a clutch triple by Tate. A free throw by Tate cut Northwestern’s advantage to 63-62 with 90 seconds left.
Wildcat point guard Bryant McIntosh cooly hit a pair of freebies to increase his team’s lead to 65-62 a few seconds later, though. Sanjay Lumpkin added two more free throws after Lyle couldn’t convert a shot in the lane. Kam Williams couldn’t convert a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.
Ohio State inched to within 70-68 late with triples from Lyle and Micah Potter. Vic Law’s two free throws with 17.6 seconds seemingly sealed the game, but a potential and-1 putback from Loving allowed for hope to re-emerge. However, Loving missed the free throw, and the Wildcats held on thanks to two free throws from Scottie Lindsey.
3 things we learned:
1. Ohio State can still salvage its season. Ohio State’s next five games: home vs. Minnesota; at Iowa; home vs. Maryland; at Michigan; and home vs. Rutgers. All five of those contests are very winnable.
With the potential for signature wins over its final six conference forays plus the opportunity to manufacture mayhem in the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State’s pathway to 20ish wins and a ticket to the Big Dance is right in front of it — all the Buckeyes need is one of those once-familiar late-season surges from yesteryear.
2. The rise of Trevor Thompson continues. The junior centered continued his strong play Sunday, notching his ninth career double-double. Thompson posted up hard, and didn’t get frustrated when the ball didn’t come his way. He again did yeoman’s work on the boards, the most notable example came early in the second half when Thompson corralled a pair of tough offensive rebounds to keep a possession alive/draw a foul.
Entering Sunday, Thompson was averaging nearly 11 points and nine rebounds per game this year, up from 6.5 points and 5.1 boards a year ago. Thompson has improved his shooting percentage to nearly 60 percent, he’s reliable from the line (74 percent), and he’s averaging nearly two blocks per game. Fouls remain an issue, but kudos to Thompson and the coaching staff for the junior center’s big leap forward this season.
3. Marc Loving and JaQuan Lyle can’t have off-games at the same time. Through nearly the first 30 minutes, Ohio State’s two best (active) all-around talents were delivering relative stinkers.
Loving, who has emerged as Ohio State’s most consistent player, struggled mightily in the first half and delivered a doughnut on the scoring sheet. Lyle was taken out of the flow of the game immediately as he picked up a pair of fouls just over two minutes into the game. It seemed as Northwestern’s paint-packing defense adversely affected both players, as Loving and Lyle combined to go 2-of-7 from the field with four turnovers through intermission.
Loving and Lyle improved their play in the second half, but both players still left something to be desired.
Continue reading...