EAST LANSING, Mich. — Denzel Valentine came off a screen on the left wing, received a pass from Tum Tum Nairn and launched a 3-pointer with just under four seconds left on the clock in a tie game.
As the ball traveled through the air, there was a bit of an eerie feeling inside the Breslin Center. It was almost as if everyone knew the shot was going in.
After all, it was Valentine’s Day.
Alas, that’s exactly what happened. Valentine’s 3-pointer found its way through the net with 3.2 seconds left on the clock and lifted Michigan State to a 59-56 win over visiting Ohio State on Saturday.
“They pinned down, whoever it was set a good screen,” said Buckeyes senior forward Sam Thompson, who chased Valentine on the final possession. “Valentine got away from me and made a great shot.”
The backbreaking 3 led to another heartbreaking road loss in the Big Ten for 23rd-ranked Ohio State. The last two losses for the Buckeyes have come by a combined five points.
“You could literally start your own classics channel from the last few years of Ohio State-Michigan State games, the endings have been incredible,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. “I think in today’s game they made some big plays, a couple more big plays than we made.”
Ohio State once again found itself down in the first half. After leading 22-18, the Buckeyes scored just two points over the final 6 minutes, 28 seconds of the opening half as the Spartans closed on a 15-2 run to take a 33-24 halftime lead.
But in the second half, Ohio State looked much stronger. Matta stuck with his starters for the majority of the time as the Buckeyes dug in defensively and took their first lead of the second half on a jumper by Shannon Scott with 5:22 remaining.
Ohio State couldn’t hang on, however, and eventually had its heart broken by Valentine.
“We played hard and I think we played a pretty good basketball game,” Scott said. “Michigan State just hit some great shots at the end so we gotta live with that.”
The Spartans were able to limit star freshman D’Angelo Russell to just 10 points — his second-lowest total of the season — on 4-of-13 shooting. He made just one basket after the 10:46 mark in the first half and didn't attempt a shot in the game's final 3:18. Scott led the way for Ohio State with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“The physicality with D’Angelo, they were able to get some physical play on him and got him a little bit,” Matta said. “He was short on some shots, maybe that was three games in six days, I’m not sure.”
Things now get complicated for the Buckeyes in terms of their place in the Big Ten standings. Ohio State now sits at 8-5 in the league and is one game behind Maryland, Purdue and the Spartans in the loss column for the No. 2 spot in the conference.
For a team that seemed to be hitting its stride having won five of its previous six, it’s certainly a deflating loss for the Buckeyes.
“It always hurts, man. Any loss hurts,” Thompson said. “But the same thing we do after a win we’re going to do after a loss. We’re going to get in the gym and we’re going to get better. We’re going to be ready to play next game.”
That will come one week from Sunday in Ann Arbor against arch-rival Michigan. Ohio State, now with a bit of uncertainty around it, can’t afford another tight loss.
“It’s our job to work as hard and play as hard throughout the game to put us in position to win those games,” Thompson said. “We’ve been in a position to win but we haven’t gotten it done, but we’ve gotta keep going.”
