The one-point loss to Northwestern over the weekend quite evidently did not linger in the minds of the Buckeyes.
Ohio State, despite air-balling a trio of shots in the first 13 minutes, pulled ahead of Nebraska on Wednesday by 15 points before the 13th minute. By halftime, the Buckeyes were up by 17, and early in the second half the rout began. In the eighth minute of the second half, they led by 30 points, and they went up by 40 points in the 11th minute.
The 13-point betting spread proved to be far too small for the favorite, with Ohio State decimating the Cornhuskers, 90-54, at the Schottenstein Center to bounce back from their second Big Ten loss of the season and get back to .500 in conference play. It improved to 8-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference as Nebraska fell to 4-6 overall and 0-3 within the Big Ten.
Wednesday's game didn't get out of hand in a single stretch. Rather, it happened over several of them.
A 20-3 run between the seventh and 14th minutes of the first half – which included points from six different Buckeyes – turned a two-point deficit into a 15-point lead. Later, a six-minute stretch early in the second half featuring a trio of Duane Washington Jr. 3-pointers and three pairs of free throws turned a 16-point lead into a 35-point advantage.
Five Ohio State players scored in double figures for a team that shot 49.2 percent from the floor and turned it over just 10 times in 40 minutes. Playing more minutes due to the absence of Musa Jallow (contact tracing), junior wing Justin Ahrens made six 3s to score 18 points. Freshman big man Zed Key managed 14 points and Seth Towns put up 11 points off of the bench. Starters Duane Washington Jr. (13 points) and Justice Sueing (12 points) helped get things going offensively, too.
Nebraska struggled mightily to get anything going offensively all night. Teddy Allen (13 points) was the only Cornhusker in double figures. His team shot a measly 28.3 percent from the floor and made only 5-of-33 3-pointers.
Next up: Ohio State goes on the road to face No. 21 Minnesota in Minneapolis on Sunday. The game will tip off at 5:30 p.m. and will be shown on Big Ten Network.
Other Notes
- There weren't any changes with the starting five. Chris Holtmann went with CJ Walker, Duane Washington Jr., Justice Sueing, E.J. Liddell and Kyle Young once again.
- Musa Jallow, Ibrahima Diallo and Meechie Johnson sat out Wednesday's game. Jallow was ruled out due to contact tracing, and thus he was not present at the Schottenstein Center. His return is unknown. Diallo is dealing with a knee injury he suffered in a Tuesday practice, and he'll be unavailable for an extended period of time. Johnson's still working his way onto the court, and the timeline for a debut is up in the air.
- The Buckeyes remain unbeaten versus Nebraska in the Holtmann era, winning all five games with four of them coming by double digits.
- This was the only meeting scheduled between Ohio State and Nebraska in the 2020-21 regular season.
- Justin Ahrens attempted his first 2-pointer of the season in the first half.
