Joe Thomas says he wants to be a part of the Browns’ rebuild
January 25, 2016Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, and David Blatt – WFNY Podcast No. 452
January 25, 2016Good news: The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s basketball team only lost one game this past week Bad News: They only played one game, a contest against the Purdue Boilermakers.
Ohio State gets dominated in second half, loses to ranked Boilermakers, 75-64
For the first time in what seems like all season, the Buckeyes started the game playing very well, holding a 36-33 lead at halftime. But, unfortunately, a basketball game has two halves and that didn’t work out well for the Bucks. With a 3-point lead after 20 minutes, Ohio State was outscored 42-28 in the second half to eventually lose to the 22nd ranked Boilermakers, 75-64.
The Bucks may have been impressive on both sides of the floor in the first half, but Purdue proved why they are one of the best teams in the Big Ten in the final 20 minutes. Whether it was using their height — they have two players that are over 7-feet tall — or elite defense, Purdue dominated the Buckeyes in the second half.
Ohio State head coach Thad Matta made sure to mention how well Purdue played down the stretch, to secure the win over Ohio State Thursday night. “That’s what good teams do. That’s what good teams do down the stretch,” Matta said. “They definitely made the plays down the stretch.”
While Kam Williams led the Buckeyes with 14 points (including making four of Ohio State’s six three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes), the guard didn’t have a single point in the second half. With his help though, the Bucks bench outscored a good Purdue bench, 31-25, but the scarlet and gray could not take advantage of that. Besides Williams, just two Buckeyes scored in double figures: A.J. Harris (11 points, two rebounds) and Jae’Sean Tate (17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals). Tate, who recorded a double-double – was the only starter to notch double-digits Thursday night.
With four of their last five games away from Columbus the last couple weeks, the Bucks have now lost three of their last four road games and are 1-3 away from The Schott in conference play. All three of their losses away from Columbus during Big Ten play have been in the last 11 days.
Coming up this week:
Monday vs. Penn State (11-9, 2-5), 7:00 p.m. ET
Thursday at Illinois (10-10, 2-5), 9:00 p.m. ET
