All too frequently in the latter half of the season, Ohio State has gone cold in a crucial second-half stretch, often in conjunction with defensive lapses at the other end.
That fate befell the Buckeyes again on Thursday when they dropped their postseason opener in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, losing their fourth out of five games as Ohio State continues to trend downward amid the final sprint of the season.
Against Penn State, which was the No. 11 seed in the conference tournament – and a team the Buckeyes had already beaten twice in the regular season – Ohio State didn’t hit a field goal for nearly seven minutes from 12:21 to 5:28 in the second half. During that stretch, Penn State went on a 16-5 run, going from down nine to up two.
The Nittany Lions never led until the 5:57 mark, but never gave the lead back to the Buckeyes after that point. By the time Ohio State’s offense got going again, scoring eight points in the final 1:58, it was already too late. Penn State knocked down seven free throws in the final 2:11 to stay out of any serious danger, and sent the Buckeyes packing after playing just one game in Indianapolis.
“I think we've went on runs, teams have went on runs. It's college basketball,” Chris Holtmann said after the game. “I don't think there's a consistent theme there at all, I think it's just – I do think when your defense isn't as strong as it needs to be, you know, that really eliminates runs because your offense is going to be a little bit fluid. So I think our better defensive teams have been able to eliminate some runs from teams and we're just not where we need to be defensively.”
Just a few weeks ago, Ohio State was still contending for a regular season title in the Big Ten. But the Buckeyes began to come apart at the seams as the final few games before postseason play came flying at them fast.
After a road win over then-No. 15 Illinois on Feb. 24, one of Ohio State’s best wins of the season, Ohio State suffered a letdown loss to Maryland on the road just three days later. Rather than bounce back given the next opportunity, that loss was compounded upon when Nebraska knocked off the Buckeyes in Columbus as a double-digit underdog.
Ohio State appeared to briefly remedy its ills in a resilient effort against Michigan State, but quickly squandered any such favor with a Senior Day loss to Hunter Dickinson-less Michigan in its final regular season game.
“I wish I could tell you (what happened), I wish I could address it,” E.J. Liddell said after Thursday’s loss. “If I knew, I would address it with the team and we'll try to fix it, but I don't know.”
Falling from championship contender to No. 6 seed in the tournament, Ohio State was still favored to notch a third win over Penn State in its first postseason tilt. The Buckeyes appeared to be well on their way to doing so on Thursday, going up by double digits in the second half and still holding onto a nine-point lead with 10:53 to go.
But the Buckeyes have seen larger leads disappear in shorter spans of time this season, and had to have known a final push was coming from their competitor.
Penn State guard Sam Sessoms scored nine points from 9:27 to 3:46, and the Nittany Lions had a field day picking up buckets inside, finishing the game with a 32-14 edge in points in the paint. Sessoms, who came off the bench for Penn State, led the team with 18 points, and the full Nittany Lion bench outscored Ohio State’s by a 32-9 margin.
Ohio State still had life with 90 seconds left on the clock, trailing the Nittany Lions by just two points after a Malaki Branham jumper. But the Buckeyes gave up a costly offensive rebound to Penn State big man John Harrar, who finished a putback layup to put the Nittany Lions back up four with 1:23 to go. That play all but ended things in Indianapolis.
“I thought we wore down a little bit,” Holtmann said. “I had to play Joey (Brunk) 30 minutes. That's a rough assignment for the amount of minutes that he needs to play going against a guy that physical (Harrar). Probably played E.J. and even Malaki a few too many minutes. I thought we wore down a little bit.”
Penn State scored 47 points in the second half alone, and shot 61.5 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.
Ohio State was shorthanded, as it was without fifth-year forward Kyle Young (concussion protocol) and regular starting center Zed Key (ankle), but the contest was still one the Buckeyes should have been able to put away.
“We beat (Penn State) two times earlier, and if you remember, Kyle Young played a major role in both those games,” Holtmann said. “He made four threes in the first half, made four threes at their place and then we played through him late at our place to beat them. So I do think, especially as loaded up as teams are, we do need another scorer or two.”
Now all the chips are in on the NCAA Tournament for Holtmann and company, who must win their next game to avoid an avalanche of criticism from Buckeye fans that has been mounting for the last few weeks.
