Instacap: Ohio State Drops Fourth Straight Game, Loses to No. 10 Virginia, 64-58

By Eric Seger on December 1, 2015 at 9:22 pm
Ohio State-Virginia instacap.
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Thad Matta's Ohio State basketball team saw Tuesday's matchup with No. 10 Virginia as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge as an opportunity to pull an upset on its home floor.

What it endured instead was its fourth straight loss. The Cavaliers downed an energetic Buckeye squad, 64-58, at the Schottenstein Center to move to 6-1 on the season. The Buckeyes fall to 2-4.

TEAM 1 2 F
VIRGINIA 26 38 64
OHIO STATE 24 34 58

Guard Malcolm Brogdon paced the Cavaliers and led all scorers with 22 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc. He finished 6-of-10 on 3-pointers on the night and also grabbed six rebounds. Anthony Gill added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Darius Thompson added 12.

OHIO STATE STAT Virginia
58 POINTS 64
21-42 (50) FGM-FGA (PCT.) 23-52 (44)
8-21 (38) 3PM-3PA (PCT.) 8-16 (50)
8-12 (75) FTM-FTA (PCT.) 10-13 (77)
13 TURNOVERS 8
25 TOTAL REBOUNDS 31
3 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS 10
22 DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS 21
7 BENCH POINTS 16
7 BLOCKS 1
3 STEALS 2
10 ASSISTS 11

Marc Loving was one of three Buckeyes in double figures, leading the way with 19 points. Jae'Sean Tate finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Keita Bates-Diop added 15 points.

Bates-Diop hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout to make it a three-point game with under 30 seconds left, but the Cavaliers survived a fouling onslaught by the Buckeyes and made enough free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Ohio State hung tough in the opening 20 minutes, even taking an early 4-3 lead on Tate's layup. Brogdon nailed his first three 3-pointers to push the Cavaliers out front by as many as nine, but a 7-0 run over the final two-plus minutes got the Buckeyes to within 26-24 at intermission.

The lead changed hands six times in the first three minutes of the second half, and Marc Loving's and-one with 13:20 left put the Buckeyes up 42-40. Back-to-back 3-pointers by JaQuan Lyle and Loving cut the lead to one, but a quick 7-0 Virginia run aided by Malcolm Brogdon's sixth 3-pointer of the night and a four-minute scoring drought by the Buckeyes helped put the game out of reach.

The Buckeyes were better at protecting the ball and defending in the early going than in previous outings, only committing five turnovers in the first half. They showed excellent effort to hang around, but the Cavaliers' consistent, grind it out offense coupled with solid shooting help them gain the advantage at the break.

Virginia made enough plays and capitalized on ill-timed Ohio State miscues to nail home their sixth win of the season. The Cavaliers made 10-of-13 free throws and only committed eight turnovers. Ohio State shot 50 percent from the field, the highest mark against the Cavaliers this young season.

The Buckeyes return to action Saturday at 4:30 p.m. when they host VMI.

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