The Ohio State basketball team held off a suspect second half and a rally by Penn State to hold on for an 84-78 victory on Monday night.
It looked like it was going to be a breeze for Ohio State at halftime. The Buckeyes took control of the game in the first half and went into halftime up by 18 points and seemingly on cruise control on the way to their 14th win of the season.
Advertisement
The second half was a different story, however. Penn State played much better defense, strung some good offensive possessions together, and took advantage of some cooled-off shooting from Ohio State to make it a game, even cutting the lead down to just one point, 60-59 at the 10:46 mark. In the end, though, Ohio State was able to do enough to pull away and hold on.
Now that the game is in the rearview, we like to reflect and give you three things to take away from each OSU basketball victory. Here are three points to ponder from Ohio State’s win on Monday night.
Penn State isn’t as bad as its record indicates
Yes, Penn State has yet to win a game in the Big Ten, having entered the contest with Ohio State at an 0-8 conference mark, a deeper dive shows that there have been a lot of close calls, however. The Nittany Lions lost at home to Michigan State by four points, Michigan by two, Illinois by eight, and at Purdue by eight — all highly-ranked squads.
Advertisement
There’s no easy nights off in the Big Ten, and though Penn State has yet to break through, there’s enough talent on this team to hang with some of the best teams in the conference, so a win — albeit nowhere near perfect — shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Ohio State winning short-handed is a positive sign
The Buckeyes were without starting big man Christoph Tilly, and the first man off the bench normally, guard Gabe Cupps, in this one. In addition to that, power forward Brandon Noel is still out of the lineup recovering from injury as well. For a team that hasn’t gotten much from its bench consistently this season, to go up by 18 in the first half and be able to fend off a comeback and even push back at the end of the game to hang on is great.
Advertisement
OSU got good contributions in the scoring sheet from Taison Chatman (11 points) and center Ivan Njegovan (9 points), and solid depth minutes from Colin White and Puff Johnson. Some of that was by necessity, but it’s better than being in the lineup with tentative and unsure contributions. It’s a step in the right direction, but now we’ll see if that continues.
John Mobley Jr is really blossoming for Ohio State
We’ve kind of been waiting for the light to go on for the talented John Mobley Jr. He’s shown so many flashes of the potential he has, but he’s starting to figure it out now. Mobley was OSU’s leading scorer for the fourth-straight game tonight after pouring in 25 points, including a 5-for-11 effort from beyond the arc. Mobley has scored 28 points (UCLA), 26 points (Minnesota), 22 points (at Michigan), and now 25 points Monday night.
More than that, he is taking better shots, and as a result, his efficiency and shooting percentage are also climbing. You can see the confidence growing in him and the trust the coaching staff and his teammates have in him, and if this trend continues, and we start to see more consistency from Devin Royal and Amare Bynum, this team might be able to make some noise because we kind of know what we’re going to get from Bruce Thornton.
Advertisement
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State vs. Penn State: 3 points to take from the game Monday
