ANN ARBOR, Mich. — With 15.3 seconds remaining Saturday, Marc Loving, Ohio State’s lone senior, grabbed a rebound following a missed jump shot from Michigan’s Derrick Walton and was immediately fouled. The Buckeyes were ahead by two points at the time and the Wolverines had to foul Loving in order to have any hope of winning the game.
Loving made the long stroll from underneath his team's own basket to the opposite free-throw line, the crowd at Crisler Center finally alive after sitting on its hands for nearly 40 minutes of action. Ohio State’s most criticized player had a chance to put the game on ice and help lift his team to a much-needed victory.
And as Loving made his way toward the stripe, the senior from Toledo had one simple thing on his mind.
“I haven’t missed,” he said afterward, “and I’m not about to miss.”
Simple enough.
As for the result? Loving buried both and the Buckeyes hung on for a 70-66 victory over archrival Michigan. It snapped Ohio State’s brief two-game skid and kept the Wolverines, a team also fighting for Big Ten and NCAA tournament relevancy, from earning a win they had to have.
It wasn’t as simple as those two Loving free throws, though, or the senior’s straightforward mindset as he headed toward the free-throw line. It’s never that easy with this Ohio State team.
The Buckeyes once again fell behind on the road in a Big Ten game as they trailed 19-8 following a blistering start from the field by Michigan. The Wolverines were getting any and everything they wanted offensively, and it looked like Ohio State’s defense, which had been problematic of late, was in a world of trouble.
But there was a response from the Buckeyes this time around, something that hadn’t happened in two of their previous three road games: blowout losses at Wisconsin and Iowa. Ohio State pounded Michigan on the glass and chipped away over the rest of the first half. Eventually, an 11-point deficit turned into a one-point halftime lead for the Buckeyes.
“It wasn’t a position we haven’t been in before so we just had to band together, really,” Loving said. “We’ve had our team meetings, we’ve had film sessions, so I feel like we’re more than capable of banding together and getting a lead but I’m just more than happy we were able to convert.”
How dominant was Ohio State on the glass in the first half, exactly? Here’s a number that might sum it up: point guard C.J. Jackson, who started in place of the injured JaQuan Lyle, grabbed eight first-half rebounds. As a team, Michigan collected the same number.
That sort of energy and effort carried over into the second half, too, and that’s what ultimately lifted the Buckeyes to a victory. Neither team played particularly well on the offensive end of the floor in the final 20 minutes — Ohio State shot 38 percent from the field in the second half; Michigan shot 27 percent — but the Buckeyes were able to find other ways to hang on.
Following the game, Ohio State head coach Thad Matta was asked if his team needs to win that way in its current state. The Buckeyes are banged up, don’t have a go-to scorer and may need to win with hustle plays, energy and effort.
“We are, and at times we don’t figure that out,” Matta said. “Hopefully, tonight’s a good lesson for us to come in here because we beat a really, really good basketball team. … Our young kids are growing up and they’re playing good basketball.”
This isn’t a season-saving win or a season-changing win. Michigan is a middle-of-the-road Big Ten team and Ohio State is still just 14-10 on the year and 4-7 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have plenty of work ahead of themselves.
But perhaps this time Ohio State can build on a win like Saturday’s. Perhaps it’s not too little too late for the Buckeyes to make a run.
“I just feel like we played through adversity,” Loving said. “They came out with a fantastic punch in the first couple minutes of the game — I want to say they had like 16 points — but I feel like we played through adversity and were able to recover. It’s not going to be perfect like we said before, but I’m happy we competed for the whole 40.”
“I guess you can say we’ve learned our lesson from the past,” Jackson added. “We just made plays down the stretch tonight and we just got the win.”
