The Ohio State Men’s Basketball team huddles up during a timeout during the Ohio State-Michigan game on Feb. 21. Ohio State lost 87-92. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
For the first time this season, the Buckeyes could not answer a loss with a win as they dropped a second consecutive game in the final minutes of action.
No. 4 Ohio State (18-6, 12-6) led by a point with under three minutes to play, but Michigan State (13-9, 7-9) wrestled the game away in the waning moments to take the game 71-67. In the absence of senior forward Kyle Young, the Buckeyes lost the rebounding battle by seven.
“I thought they were more physical, played with more force than we did, made a few more plays down the stretch,” head coach Chris Holtmann said.
The Buckeyes were held without a field goal for the final 4:46 of regulation, and junior guard Duane Washington Jr.’s tying layup in the final seconds did not fall.
Starting the game 1-of-9 from the field, sophomore forward E.J. Liddell utilized the free throw line to get his points throughout the game, knocking down 10-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe. Liddell finished the game hitting three of his last four shots from the field to finish with 18 points — 13 of which were scored in the second half.
With two Ohio State starters being held scoreless, the scoring onus fell on the shoulders of Washington — who scored a career-high 30 points in the Sunday loss to No. 3 Michigan.
Scoring 9 of the team’s first 13 points, Washington finished the game with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
Washington is now averaging 19 points per game on 51.9-percent shooting over his last six games.
Although Washington continued his hot steak for the Buckeyes, junior forward Aaron Henry brought a lot of momentum into Thursday for the Spartans.
Coming off consecutive games of scoring at least 20 points, Henry tallied 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Henry’s efforts were supported by junior forward Gabe Brown, who produced 11 points while adding five rebounds.
Filling Young’s starting role was redshirt junior guard Musa Jallow as redshirt junior forward Justice Sueing slid into Young’s spot.
Jallow finished the game scoreless without a single shot attempt, however he made contributions in other areas — adding five rebounds and two assists.
Along with Jallow, Holtmann said freshman forward Zed Key would be one of the figures counted on to replace Young. Like he has all season, Key did his damage on the block and poured in 8 first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting.
Key finished the game with 8 points and four rebounds.
Redshirt senior guard CJ Walker said Young’s absence paired with Brown’s emergence for the Spartans contributed to the game’s outcome.
“[Young] does a lot for us, he’s kinda like our glue guy. He just does a lot for us and obviously that’s an X factor when you lose that, that piece of our team, he means a lot to us and we really missed him tonight,” Walker said. “Gabe Brown’s a really good player. He fit them really well and their system. He spreads the floor out shooting the ball and things like that, so was most definitely an X factor for them and made them a lot better tonight.”
Adding production off of the bench alongside Key was Walker, who gave the Buckeyes 12 points on 4-of-8 from the field while adding five assists.
Despite Walker and Key’s offensive contributions off of the bench, the Buckeyes lost the bench scoring tally 25-22
While multiple players picked up the scoring void left by Young, the Buckeyes failed to meet his production on the glass. Michigan State won the rebounding battle 34-27.
Defensively, the Buckeyes struggled to slow the fast-paced Spartan attack. Ohio State’s struggles in transition led to a 15-11 Michigan State advantage in fast break scoring.
While the Buckeyes failed to slow the Spartans pace, Ohio State largely locked down the perimeter — holding Michigan State to 26.7 percent from three.
Holtmann watched the final second of the game from the locker room after picking up his second technical foul and getting ejected for the first time in his Ohio State career. Although questionable foul calls and no calls piled up all game, Holtmann said he was the one to blame for his early exit.
As frustrations have mounted following Thursday’s loss, Ohio State still has two top-10 opponents on the horizon. With an opportunity to bounce back Sunday, Walker pointed to some simple steps to help them get back into the groove.
“Just practice really hard just to prepare in the best way possible, compete and get each other better each and every day,” Walker said. “Me being a leader, I gotta step up and have more communication.”
The Buckeyes return home with a two-game homestand to finish the regular season. Ohio State and No. 9 Iowa are set to do battle starting Sunday at 4 p.m.
This story was updated Friday at 12:14 a.m. with quotes from CJ Walker and Chris Holtmann.
