Ohio State men’s basketball vs. Cornell: Game preview and prediction
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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The Buckeyes will take on the Cornell Big Red in the first meeting between the schools since 1969 in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.
While
Ohio State wasn’t able to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament, there is still something left for the Buckeyes to play for. A couple hours after they found out they weren’t included in the field of 68, Ohio State received word they would be a part of this year’s
NIT.
First up for the Buckeyes will be a meeting with the Cornell Big Red out of the Ivy League tonight at Value City Arena. This marks Ohio State’s 10th appearance in the NIT, and their first appearance in the tournament since 2016.
After a dreadful January, followed by the firing of head coach Chris Holtmann in the middle of February, interim head coach Jake Diebler nearly rallied the Buckeyes to an NCAA Tournament bid. Ohio State closed out the regular season 5-1 under Diebler, and beat Iowa 90-78 on Thursday night in the
Big Ten Tournament.
There was a thought the Buckeyes might have done enough to earn a spot in the “Big Dance” if they beat Illinois on Friday evening in their Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal game. Unfortunately for Ohio State one of the bad habits that was seen under Holtmann popped back up again.
With 11 minutes to go in the game, the Buckeyes held a 10-point lead on the Fighting Illini, but Ohio State wasn’t able to close the game out. After a Jamison Battle three-pointer gave the Buckeyes a 74-71 lead, Illinois was able to take the lead after Terrance Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins each hit a pair of free throws in the final 70 seconds. Shannon would add another pair of free throws to extend the lead to 77-74.
Battle had a shot to tie the game, but his three-point effort didn’t fall. Illinois would go on to win the Big Ten Tournament, so there isn’t much shame for the Buckeyes in losing late to such a strong team.
In the loss on Friday, Bruce Thornton played one of his best games in the scarlet and gray. The sophomore recorded his first double-double, finishing with 20 points and 10 assists. The performance came on the heels of the Iowa game where he scored 14 points, dished out nine assists, and pulled down six rebounds.
Thornton is leading the team in scoring with 16.1 points per game. If Thornton returns to Columbus for his junior season, a strong showing in the NIT could ramp up expectations for the 2024-25 season.
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Following the firing of Holtmann last month, it seemed like a given that new athletic director Ross Bjork would try and bring in an established coach after the season to replace Holtmann. Instead, interim head coach Jake Diebler impressed so much that he had the interim tag removed from his job title on Sunday.
In the eight games after Ohio State moved on from Holtmann, the Buckeyes were 6-2 and nearly earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. It became obvious that the team responded positively to Diebler’s coaching, and the former assistant coach looks like one of the bright young coaching stars in college basketball.
Preview
With questions about Diebler’s coaching status now answered, his first game as the official head coach of the Buckeyes will come against the Cornell Big Red tonight. This will be Ohio State’s 10th appearance in the NIT, and their first time playing in the tournament since 2016 when they beat Akron in overtime before falling to Florida in the second round. The Buckeyes won the NIT in 1986 and 2008. All-time Ohio State is 19-8 in the tournament, with an 11-3 record when hosting NIT contests.
Tonight’s game marks the ninth all-time meeting with Cornell, but the teams haven’t met since Jan. 24, 1969 when the Buckeyes beat the Big Red 96-78 in Cleveland. Ohio State is 34-18 all-time against the Ivy League. The last time the Buckeyes squared off with a team from the conference was back in the 2007-08 season, when they beat Columbia 68-54 in Columbus as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Cornell enters tonight’s game with a 22-7 record on the season, losing their last game 69-57 to Yale in an Ivy League Tournament Semifinal. The Big Red have an offense that can’t be overlooked, as they rank in the top-20 in the country in scoring, three-pointers made, assists and field goal percentage.
This marks the first time Cornell has participated in the NIT. Their lone appearance in a postseason tournament that wasn’t the NCAA Tournament came at the end of the 2018-19 season when they played in the CIT.
Coaching the Big Red is Brian Earl, who is in his seventh season in charge at the prestigious school in Ithaca, posting a 96-102 entering tonight’s contest. Earl played at Princeton from 1995 to 1999, earning Ivy League Player of the Year honors in 1999. After Earl served as an assistant at his alma mater from 2007 to 2016 before Cornell offered him their head coaching position.
After recording losing seasons in each of his first four years as head coach of the Big Red, Earl has seen his teams improve over the last three, with their 22 wins this season being the most under Earl. In 2022, Earl was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year.
Pacing Cornell this season has been Chris Manon, who earned unanimous first team All-Ivy League honors. Not only did the senior league the conference with 2.2 steals per game this year, Manon was the Big Red’s leading scorer, averaging 12.5 points per game. Manon was the first Cornell player to earn unanimous first team All-Ivy League accolades since Matt Morgan in 2019. The 53.5 field goal percentage by Manon is seventh-highest in school history for players with at least 400 field goal attempts.
Along with Manon, Nazir Williams was also honored by the conference this year, as the guard was placed on the All-Ivy League second team. The junior averaged 11.4 points per game, 3.9 rebounds per game, and 3.2 assists per game. While Cornell has 11 players averaging at least nine minutes per game, Williams has played the most this season, averaging a team-high 24.9 minutes per contest.
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While Manon and Williams are the only Big Red players averaging double-digits in scoring this year, Cornell has five other players averaging at least seven points per game this season. Isaiah Gray averages 9.1 points per game, forwards Sean Hansen and Guy Ragland Jr. score 8.9 points per game, Cooper Noard averages 8.8 points per contest, and AK Okereke is averaging 7.1 points per game.
Noard is the biggest threat from distance for Cornell, hitting a team-high 58 three-pointers this season. Ragland is the team’s leading rebounder, pulling down 5.1 boards per contest.
Prediction
Despite Cornell being a quality team, all signs point to Ohio State advancing in the tournament. The Buckeyes have been playing with a lot of confidence after the firing of Chris Holtmann, as evidenced by their 6-2 record under Jake Diebler. One reason for the surge in play from the Buckeyes has been Diebler trusting younger players like Devin Royal and Scotty Middleton more than Holtmann did.
The mix of young talent, along with experienced leaders like Thornton and Battle, resulted in the Buckeyes nearly earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Normally there is a concern about power conference teams that were left out of the NCAA Tournament finding motivation to play in the NIT. That doesn’t feel like the case for Ohio State, who should be hyped to play tonight after Diebler’s future as head coach of the Buckeyes was decided over the weekend.
The seniors on the roster will likely relish one last shot to go for some sort of title, while those who might eventually end up entering the transfer portal could use this as a showcase to generate interest from other teams.
In the end, Ohio State has too much size and talent for Cornell. There hasn’t been many occasions this season when the Big Red has seen players with the size and skill like Felix Okpara and Zed Key on the inside, or players who can shoot like Jamison Battle, or make plays like Thornton and Roddy Gayle Jr.
Cornell is certainly a scrappy team, but that will only get them so far in their first NIT appearance.
ESPN BPI: Ohio State 83.7%
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
LGHL score prediction: Ohio State 84, Cornell 72
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